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Korea captain Koo Ja-cheol (left) and head coach Hong Myung-bo take part in a press conference on Tuesday. (Yonhap) |
Hong Myung-bo, head coach of South Korean men’s national football team, said Tuesday he will try to address the squad’s lingering defensive issues in an upcoming friendly against Tunisia at home.
South Korea, ranked 55th, will host No. 49 Tunisia at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. It will be the final match at home for Hong’s squad before the World Cup.
South Korea will travel to Miami on Friday and will take on Ghana there on June 9. Hong’s team will take on Russia, Algeria and Brazil in Group H in Brazil.
At a prematch press conference at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Hong said he would like to deploy “as many players as possible” from his 23-man squad.
“We have a few players that are in excellent form,” Hong said.
“I’d like to see how these players adjust to different positions and how they can play off each other.”
Hong’s team opened the training camp at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on May 12.
In the third week of training, Hong said his players have responded well to his programs and some injured players have recovered more quickly than he’d expected. He complimented his charge on having “strong desire” in the run-up to the big tournament.
Against Tunisia, Hong said specifically that he will keep an eye on how his players respond on defense.
“We have given up a lot of goals on set pieces, and we need to fix that problem,” Hong said. “Also, I want to see how we can handle breakaway opportunities by the opponent.”
In 14 matches on Hong’s watch since last July, South Korea has five wins, six losses and three draws, with 15 goals scored and 17 goals allowed. Hong said he wanted to win the game before the home fans in the send-off match and give a jolt to the nation still reeling from the fatal sinking of the ferry Sewol last month. (Yonhap)
