South Korea lacking at both ends of the pitch
Sometimes international teams simply produce too many of the same type of player. Portugal produce too many wingers and not enough strikers. Holland produce too many attackers and not enough defenders.
South Korea, meanwhile, have a load of energetic midfield runners, but no-one to directly participate in the process of (a) scoring goals and (b) preventing goals being conceded.
That’s an overly simplistic way of looking at their squad, but it basically tells the story. That’s not to say that they are a bad side, but with the addition of a couple of solid centre-backs and a lethal goalscorer, they would be an excellent one.
The first XI
They are captained by Park Ji-Sung, who is a good figurehead for their side. Hard-working, versatile and technically sound. He plays on the left, with Bolton’s Lee Chu-Yong on the right playing a similar role. In the middle is Kim Yung-Woo, who would prefer to play a box-to-box role, but is forced to be slightly more conservative as he plays alongside another midfielder who likes getting forward, Ki Sung-Yong of Celtic. The midfield is probably the strongest area of the side, even if they do lack a true holding midfielder.
The main striker is Monaco’s impressive Park Chu-Young, a phenomenally quick player who doesn’t score as many as he should – 13 goals in two seasons in Ligue 1 is not an impressive strike ratio. 14 goals in 38 games at international level is better, and against sides with ageing defences like Argentina and Greece, his pace could cause real problems.
The identity of the other striker is unknown – it could be Lee Keun-Ho, another who likes working the channels, but at 5′9 is hardly capable of winning balls in the air, which is the kind of partner Park CY needs. Alternatively, it could be veteran Ahn Jung-Hwan. (It’s one of those “Ah I can’t believe he’s still around!” moments – for those who don’t recognise the name, it was he who, in 2002, scored the winner in the second round against Italy, and was promptly released from Serie A club Perugia by notoriously bonkers President Luciano Gaucci. He’s 34, hasn’t scored an international goal for four years and plays for team called Shide FC, but it would be nice to see him.)
Midfield support should mean Korea’s goal threat is far from non-existent, but there are serious problems at the back. Lee Jung-Soo and Cho Yong-Hyung lack height and experience, and the defence as a whole looks nervous from set-pieces, something Greece, Argentina and Nigeria – three physically powerful sides – will look to exploit.
The full-backs offer good support to the midfield, however, constantly bombing forward. The highly-rated Cha Du-Ri is a genuine attacking threat through sheer pace, whilst former Tottenham and PSV left-back Lee Young-Pyo provides a more solid game, and plenty of experience. In goal is another familiar face, Lee Woon-Jae, who has been around the national side since World Cup 1994.
Conclusion
South Korea are what you’d expect if you’d never seen them play, and only knew Park and Lee from the Premiership. Energetic, hard-working, but lacking in central areas.
Their group B matches will be interesting, however, because Korea have a completely different style of play to Greece and Nigeria, who are filled with more physical, less technically-gifted players. They will also give Argentina a decent test – the pace of Korea’s forward four will worry the Argentina defence, and Veron will not have the stamina to compete for 90 mins.
Expect a valiant effort, but for the seventh straight time in World Cups abroad, a first-round exit.
South Korea lacking at both ends of the pitch
ZM, a good analysis. But, there are some things I’d like to correct in your analysis. KH Lee was not selected in the 23 men squad. Instead, Ki-Hoon Yeom (a winger/striker) or Dong-Gook Lee (a former Boro player, a target man) will be a striking partner of CY Park. Dong-Gook Lee is an in-form striker at the moment although he was injured recently. He scored goals against Germany and Ivory Coast in friendlies. If CY Park is well supported by the midfield, he can be quite lethal. JW Kim is a holding midfielder to be in front of the back four. SY Ki is also a holding midfielder but more attack minded, effortlessly changing the formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-4-1, all variants of 4-4-2. I agree that Korean defence is vulnerable to set pieces and Greece will certainly try to exploit this. However, Korean players are quicker and penetrate better from the midfield, and hence if they beat Greece 1-0 or 2-1, thet will have a very good chance of progressing to the next round. If they lose or draw in the first match, yes, a first-round exit is very likely.
God knows what went wrong with KH Lee in there! Must’ve watched a pre-squad selection game. Thanks very much.
What happened was KH Lee was in Austria camp until 1st of June and then got sent home when he didn’t make the cut into the final 23 announced on that day. I suspect that the Korea coach Huh (wrongly) gambled on Ahn (scored most world cup goals, 3) although he’s completely out of form since 2006. If I were the Korea coach, I would have selected KH Lee over Ahn. This ‘unconvincing’ selection may haunt Huh. KH Lee was the most prolific scorer in J leagure until June last year and once he regains his form, he has ability to score as many goals in a short space of time.
Speking of the side fullbacks, it’s possible that the vastly experienced YP Lee to play on the right (he often did when playing for Dortmund) and DJ Kim (played for Zenit under Advocatt) to play on the left.
Having watched a reasonable amount of SY Ki this season for Celtic I would strongly argue that he’s not a holding midfielder. At least in Scotland where his physique is flimsy at best, and he doesn’t seem to have the heart to get ’stuck in’ (god love UK football)
Maybe sounding overly critical of him, but I shouldn’t be because he is technically very very good. Likes to play further forward without too much defensive responsibility, has great close control and a stinging shot on him, even if we’ve rarely had a chance to see it. He is very highly rated though and has been compared to Steven Gerrard in terms of surging, direct runs and powerful strikes.
Free-kicks seems to be a particular strong point, not just for Celtic but in the recent Spain friendly Korea’s sole threat came from fantastic corners from Ki, and some great inswinging crosses from deep.
Not really helping the tactical analysis of S.Korea here so I apologise! But thought I could help shed some light on SY Ki, who might just be the revelation for S.Korea this WC.
I think the analysis was a little off. I actually picked South Korea as my dark horse team to hit the quarter finals and ending their run there. The key reason is their group as well as their potential last 16 opponents.
As seen from their opening game against Greece, Korea is a team with very strong attacking intent noticeably through Park JiSung and Lee Chun Yong. They are equally comfortable switching into the middle to support Monaco’s Park who has failed to take his one on one chances for me. Ahn is not a striker to bring to the WC either.
One big thing for me was that Huh did the right thing and put in the in form goal keeper instead of the aging and bulging 2002 veteran. Also, the defense is solid enough to deal with pacey threats and aerial threats. What they cannot deal with is a laser accurate through ball for a fast striker to latch onto. This is their weak spot, not the set pieces.
Ki Sung Yung or David Ki is the key here. JW Kim is good enough for a covering midfielder, but Ki Sung Yung is the type of player to hit an accurate 40m pass and his set piece delivery is a real threat to other teams. If he hits the type of form with Lee Chun Yong to allow the double dragons to prosper with Park Ji Sung, this is a dangerous team.
Argentina is a real test, if they somehow keep Messi quiet and maintain their tactical discipline. I can see them snatching a draw/win which will see them through. Lee Chun yong looks tired from his great first season with Bolton and I hope he lasts through to the quarters. Also, the team is not able to deal with injuries and suspensions, so any one of their key players out would mean an early exit for me.
I think they have a great chance to progress personally. They will be hard to beat and I expect them to see off Greece in the 1st game and I can also see them beating Nigeria. A good bet to qualify or even win the group IMO.
Let’s see…
I think you make a good point about a lack of firepower. The K-League is packed full of imported forward players, who get most of the goals, and consequently, there isn’t too many prolific Korean strikers playing domestically.
An interesting player to look out for, who will hopefully play and help solve the problems up front, is the young Lee-Seung-Yeoul. I’ve watched him regularly for FC Seoul and his direct running and pace are impressive, this coupled with great close control and a decent finish means he could be a great impact sub. He often gets put on the right side of midfield, but is far more comfortable as a striker. His lateral movement is great and he offers a genuine goal threat, even at an international level. He was a late substitute against (an albeit weak) Equador in a pre-world cup friendly and scored the opening goal and looked menacing throughout his time on the pitch. He is now a regular starter for FC Seoul, which seems to be a fairly heavily scouted club, and I fully expect him to move on over the summer.
Another player to watch out for is, as you’ve pointed out is Ki Sung-Yong (a former FC Seoul player along with Lee Chung-Yong) as he is possibly more cultured than people expect, he is great at showing for the ball after passing and can really make a midfield tick and hold possession.
I hope they both play and Korea do well, as the Korean fans are impressively noisy and the atmosphere over here is great, even if a lot of people simply want to cheer when Korea have the ball.
Good article. But I think apart from 4 or 5 good players, South Korea have ne good players. You say DR Cha is a good, offensive full-back, but he isn’t. He was most of the time on the bench in Freiburg, a little club in the Bundesliga. When he played, he always was the weak point in the team. Is is a learned striker, and for right-back he is defensively much to weak.
Good point – at one stage, even nervy teenager Williams was thrown in at Cha’s expense!
Wait, so one of Korea’s fullbacks isn’t very good and all of a sudden they only have 4 or 5 good players? Not sure about your analysis there, buddy.
I can’t speak for Cha’s performance in the Bundesliga, but don’t make the mistake of assuming Korea don’t have good players otherwise. Yes, they’re weak at defending set pieces – but they’re excellent at scoring from them, nobody will outwork their midfield although they can be physically dominated and their technical skill is outstanding for such an industrious side.
If they can get goals, they can get out of this group. Nigeria and Greece are only physically stronger – they’re poorer in every other area and Korea have had success recently in running and passing physically strong sides off the park.
This sounds like I only know Cha and then make a analysis about the whole team…
I don’t know each player, but I saw some of their qualification matches, and I think for world-standard they are on 5 or six positions not good enough. These are the two full-backs, 1 or two centre-backs and the attacking midfielders and strikers. They have solid players, but I don’t think they have enough creativity in their team.
Keep your eyes peeled for an interesting method of defending free-kicks http://defensivemidfielder.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/south-korea-spain-and-novel-offside-traps/
There is also speculation that Huh(South Korea’s coach) will play a 4-2-3-1 to counter Greece’s three-man defense in their first game. This could also be used when playing Argentina. If they do, I think it would be better to put Park Ji Sung in central midfield in order to shut out Messi(who has recently started as a attacking midfielder). He had done the exact same thing to Pirlo during Manchester United’s Champions League game against AC Milan, and this had helped his club win the match 4-1.
Great article, ZM. I would like to second this; Korea played in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Spain and head coach Huh said that we should expect to see the 4-2-3-1 at some points throughout the tournament, if not during the whole 90 against Argentina. The formation would feature Park Ji=Sung in the center behind the lone striker Park Chu-Yong, with Yeom Ki-Hoon at left wing. Also, it seems that Huh currently prefers the more defensively sound Oh Beom-Seok at right fullback to Cha Du-Ri, who was on the famous 2002 squad as a striker (!). Cha might be the most physically imposing player on the squad, though, so he might feature against squads with a more brutish left winger. Hope this helps, keep up the great work!
Jong Tae-Se was born in Japan to 2nd generation South Koreans so he could have opted to play for South Korea. If he did, South Korea would have the lethal striker they needed.
Park Ji-Sung and Lee Chung-Yong are actually two different types of players.
Park, like you said, is mainly known for his work rate, but Lee is more of a creator with better skill sets.
Yeah, I’d agree with that. Sounds like ZM is stereotyping all Korean players from watching Park – Lee’s a much more technically capable player.
Not at all. They’re both wingers, they’re both hard-working, they’re both technically good. I don’t know why people object to the idea they’re reasonably similar – of course they’re slightly different players, but they’re hardly Lionel Messi and David Batty.
Agree with you in that Korea is in desperate need of a reliable goal scorer (chu-young blew some great chances today), and that the midfield has to provide most of the goal scoring. i find it interesting (as did you i’m sure) that korea was able to cope with set pieces from greece relatively efficiently, and in fact scored on a set piece on their own.
hopefully their backline doesn’t play as sketchy/inexperienced as you have them rated against argentina and nigeria, as i find them very capable of advancing as it is, but especially with a backline that stands up