football-performance
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| ▲ Paik Seung-ho of South Korea (L) dribbles past Virgiliu Postolachi of Moldova during their teams' football friendly match at Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, on Jan. 21, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Kim Gun-hee of South Korea (L) chases the ball past Artiom Litveacov of Moldova during the teams' football friendly match at Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, on Jan. 21, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Cho Young-wook of South Korea (C) attempts a pass against Moldova during the teams' football friendly match at Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, on Jan. 21, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Paulo Bento, head coach of the South Korean men's national football team, directs his players during a friendly match against Moldova at Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey, on Jan. 21, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
football-performance
Young guns leave their marks on nat'l football team with complete efforts in friendly victory
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- For their second straight men's football friendly victory in Turkey on Friday, South Korea enjoyed complete, two-way efforts from young players trying to survive an upcoming lineup crunch.
Midfielders Kim Jin-gyu, Paik Seung-ho and Kwon Chang-hoon, and forward Cho Young-wook each scored a goal in South Korea's 4-0 win over Moldova at Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey. It was the team's second straight victory during training camp in Turkey, held before South Korea's World Cup qualifying campaign resumes later this month. The Taeguk Warriors beat Iceland 5-1 last Saturday, and Kim, Paik and Kwon all scored in both of those wins. Cho's goal was his first with the senior national team.
Kwon, with 29 caps and some European club experience, is the most established one of this bunch and probably won't lose sleep over the impending roster cuts. Paik has six caps, while Kim has played only twice and Cho made his debut on Friday. All 24 or younger, they are still in infant stages of their senior international careers that every goal and every little play will count.
They are part of the 25-man contingent from South Korea's K League at the Turkey camp. With Europe-based veterans not available in the middle of their seasons, head coach Paulo Bento called up several new faces and tested them through nearly two weeks of training and two matches.
Five players from European leagues and one from the Qatari league will join the national team next week in time for the World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon on Thursday. It will be followed by another away match, against Syria, on Feb. 1.
Bento will make a few cuts over the weekend, and his decisions have been made tougher than anticipated.
Kim, midfielder for Busan IPark, was South Korea's creative force in both friendly wins. And by scoring against both Iceland and Moldova, Kim became the first South Korean player in 17 years to find the back of the net in each of his first two matches.
Even with South Korea's depth in the attacking midfield position, it will be difficult to ignore Kim's energy and passing skills for a long time. If Kim doesn't make the team this time, he will certainly merit consideration in the near future.
Paik has some pedigree as a former FC Barcelona youth academy player. Though he never panned out in Europe, Paik has revived his career with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and, as attested by his midrange strike last week and free kick goal Friday, he could be a new offensive weapon for South Korea.
"I took my aim and I struck the ball better than I'd expected," Paik said of his goal against Moldova. The ball took a short hop in front of goalkeeper Cristian Avram before skipping into the net. "We don't know who will be playing at World Cup qualifying matches. If I do get a chance, I will make sure I'll be well prepared."
Cho, who came off the bench in the second half, had a last-second breakaway on Avram and drew a penalty when the Moldovan keeper tripped him up in the box. Cho stepped up to take the spot kick himself and scored his first international goal.
Cho has always been a goal scorer at every level. He netted 21 goals in 46 matches for the under-20 national team, including two at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup when South Korea finished runners-up. The FC Seoul forward once had a four-goal game for the under-23 national squad. His combination of speed and nose for the goal should make him an effective bench piece.
"It was an honor just to make my debut with the team, and I was lucky enough to score," Cho said. "I figured I would get into the game at some point. I knew it was going to be quite chaotic out there and I didn't want to hurt the team."
As for the roster battle, Cho said, "There are so many great players at the forward position. Rather than competing against them, I will try to learn from them as much as I can."
The two starting forwards on Friday, Kim Gun-hee and Cho Gue-sung, didn't get into the score sheet but did a whole lot of other things well.
Their off-the-ball movements were excellent in the attacking third, and both applied effective pressure up front and covered a ton of ground to help out on defense. And it was their quick passing that set up Kwon's goal early in the second half.
Cho, who'd scored against Iceland, was playing in his sixth international match. Kim was playing only for the second time at age 26. They are still short on experience, but clearly not so on skills and work ethic.
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