S. Korea set take on Mexico, Qatar for 1st int'l football matches of 2020

▲ Son Heung-min of the South Korean men's national football team trains at BSFZ-Arena at Maria Enzersdorf-Sudstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Nov. 11, 2020, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean men's national football team players huddle around their head coach Paulo Bento during practice at BSFZ-Arena at Maria Enzersdorf-Sudstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Nov. 11, 2020, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean men's national football team players train at BSFZ-Arena at Maria Enzersdorf-Sudstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Nov. 11, 2020, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean men's national football team players train at BSFZ-Arena at Maria Enzersdorf-Sudstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Nov. 10, 2020, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ South Korean men's national football team players train at BSFZ-Arena at Maria Enzersdorf-Sudstadt in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Nov. 10, 2020, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

football matches-preview

S. Korea set take on Mexico, Qatar for 1st int'l football matches of 2020

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- It's taken them 11 months, and South Korea will finally play their first international football match of the year on the weekend, followed by the second match early next week.

Coached by Paulo Bento, South Korea will first face Mexico at 9 p.m. on Saturday (5 a.m. on Sunday in Seoul) at Stadion Wiener Neustadt in Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna. South Korea will then play Qatar at 2 p.m. on Tuesday (10 p.m. on Tuesday in Seoul) at BSFZ Arena Admiral Stadium in Maria Enzersdorf, also near Vienna.

South Korea are currently ranked 38th in the world. Mexico are in 11th and Qatar are ranked 57th. The next victory for South Korea will be their 500th.

These are the first internatinoal contests for the men's national team, whose previous action came at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in December 2019.

Bento's team played the under-23 men's national team in exhibition matches in October just outside Seoul, and those matches only featured players based in the domestic K League. Because of the mandatory, 14-day quarantine rule for all international travelers coming into South Korea, stars based in Europe were not selected for those matches that didn't ultimately count.

For this Austrian trip, Bento called up most of the usual suspects from Europe, such as Tottenham Hotspur's scoring star Son Heung-min, Valencia CF midfielder Lee Kang-in, and RB Leipzig forward Hwang Hee-chan.

Son is currently tied for the Premier League lead with eight goals and has been one of the top scorers in England in recent years. His comparative lack of production for the national team is an intriguing topic for discussion for South Korean supporters.

Son has scored 26 times in 87 matches, but only three goals in his last 17 appearances. Bento has come to Son's defense on questions about the player's inability to score for the country, saying he usually isn't afforded much time to train with his teammates before playing international matches and that Son remains a great player.

Son is in fine form in the early going of the current European season and has a chance to silence skeptics against Mexico and Qatar.

During the group stage at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Son scored South Korea's only goal in a 2-1 loss to Mexico. It was the two teams' most recent meeting.

South Korea also lost to Qatar in their last matchup, which came in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in January 2019. The 1-0 defeat to the eventual tournament champions was also the first loss suffered by Bento as the South Korea boss.

Bento has insisted he won't be out for any revenge. He also doesn't want his players to be carried away by emotions.

Bento has enough on his plate to worry about as it is, because his backline was decimated by injuries well before those matches, while the midfield group was also compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two fullbacks, Lee Yong of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Hong Chul of Ulsan Hyundai FC, both suffered injuries at last week's FA Cup final -- Lee during the first leg and Hong during the second leg -- and have since been replaced. Kim Jin-su, fullback for the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr FC, tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend and was also dropped from the national team.

Two Bundesliga players, SC Freiburg midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon and Holstein Kiel midfielder Lee Jae-sung, will return to Germany after the Mexico match. The Korea Football Association said last week that those two players must each serve a five-day quarantine upon arriving back in Germany, and it had reached deals with their two clubs to have them available for only the first match.

Against Mexico, the patchwork defense will be tested by Wolverhampton forward Raul Jimenez, who leads the current roster with 25 goals in 84 matches, and Napoli forward Hirving Lozano, who has 10 goals in 39 matches for his country.

Abdulaziz Hatem, who scored on South Korea at last year's Asian Cup, is back on the Qatari team this time, joined by other returnees such as Hassan Al-Haydos and Akram Afif up front, Karim Boudiaf in midfield and Abdelkarim Hassan on defense.

To ensure players' and coaches' health and safety while in Austria, the Korea Football Association (KFA) has strict protocols for them to follow. A chef at the National Football Training center is traveling with the team and will be preparing meals at the team hotel, so that players won't have to venture out into town to eat. They will mostly be confined to their hotel, training ground and the two match venues.

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