S. Korea coach Bento to prepare for World Cup match vs. native Portugal ′professionally′

▲ Paulo Bento, head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, speaks at a press conference at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on April 7, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ This Associated Press file photo from April 1, 2022, shows Group H countries, including South Korea, for the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a draw held at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha. (Yonhap)

World Cup-coach

S. Korea coach Bento to prepare for World Cup match vs. native Portugal 'professionally'

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, April 7 (Yonhap) -- Paulo Bento, the Portugal-born head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, readily acknowledges coaching against his native country for the first time -- and doing so at the FIFA World Cup no less -- will be a "completely different" experience than doing so against other teams.

And Bento will try his best to maintain the same approach and treat it as if it were just another game.

South Korea will face Portugal, Uruguay and Ghana in Group H at the World Cup, which kicks off on Nov. 21 in Qatar. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, six days after the draw, Bento said he would have preferred not to have been paired with Portugal.

"I think it's easy to understand reasons why. But we are going to approach the game against Portugal in the same way that we're going to approach the other ones," Bento told reporters at the National Football Center in Paju, north of Seoul. "We're going to analyze the Portugal team in the same way that we analyze all of the opponents we play.

"Of course, if we talk about the mental aspect, it will be different. I have no doubts about that," Bento continued. "It's the first time that I am going to play against my country. I need to prepare myself to do that professionally."

South Korea, world No. 29, will open the proceedings against No. 13 Uruguay at 4 p.m. on Nov. 24, and they will then face No. 60 Ghana at 4 p.m. on Nov. 28. South Korea will close out the group stage against the eighth-ranked Portugal at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2. Qatar is six hours behind South Korea.

South Korea will play all of their group matches at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha. They are the only Group H country to have all three games at one venue.

Bento disagreed with the prevailing view among local pundits that South Korea ended up in a relatively easy group.

"I would say it's almost impossible to think that in the final phase of the World Cup, we can have an easy group," the coach said. "(These are) three good teams that we are going to face. We must compete as well as possible."

The only previous meeting between South Korea and Portugal came during the group stage at the 2002 World Cup. South Korea prevailed 1-0 to clinch a spot in the round of 16 for the first time, and Bento played in that match as a midfielder.

South Korea have split six matches against Ghana with three wins against three losses. The two countries have not faced each other since June 2014, when Ghana blanked South Korea 4-0.

South Korea have managed one win, one draw and six losses against Uruguay. And it was Uruguay that knocked off South Korea in the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with a 2-1 victory.

(END)