The national soccer team finished 4 matches in June A match (international team match) with a 4-1 victory over Egypt held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 14th. The national team scored 9 goals in 4 matches and conceded 8 goals, leaving a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. It can’t be said that it’s bad if you look at it entirely, but there was no team with strong power, except for Brazil, which ranked first in the FIFA ranking among the four opponents of the A match in Korea this time. In particular, the defensive ability that conceded 8 goals gave coach Paulo Bent a big homework. The overall evaluation is that it is difficult to expect the national team to advance to the round of 16 at the Qatar World Cup, which begins in November, if the performance of the national team is as shown in the 4 matches of this match.
On this day, the national team scored the most 4 goals in a match in June. Egypt ranked 32nd in the FIFA rankings, three places lower than Korea (29th). Most of the main players of the Egyptian national team visiting Korea were omitted. European big leaguers, including Mohammad Salah (Liverpool), who shared the top scorer with Son Heung-min (Tottenham) in the English Premier League (EPL) for the 2021-2022 season, were excluded from the entry due to injuries. It is because of this entry structure that Egypt national team manager Ihab Galal did not show much dissatisfaction with his performance even following being defeated by three goals. “There was no difficulty in attacking,” Galal said. He played a good game, breaking through the Korean defense and attacking.”
Korea struggled with strong pressure from Egypt in the first half of the first half. Son Heung-min and Hwang Ui-jo (Bordeaux), who were two-top strikers, were isolated because the pass might not go forward. Son Heung-min mightn’t even touch the ball properly until the 15th minute of the first half. It was Heung-Min Son who unraveled the frustrating flow. He went down into South Korea’s defense and served as a starting point for the attack. In the 16th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min passed a long pass toward Kim Jin-soo from the right side of the center line to the left of the penalty box. Then, Kim Jin-soo’s cross was headed by Hwang Ui-jo. As Son Heung-min coordinated the ball supply below the center line, the flanks and center attacks also survived. Heung-Min Son took on the role of Harry Kane, who became a playmaker for his team Tottenham Hotspur. Son Heung-min’s coming down below the center line was also a way to break through the situation where the defense was focused on him, unlike in his team. Korea’s second goal also started with Son Heung-min. In the 22nd minute of the first half, Son Heung-min’s corner kick was redirected by Hwang Ui-jo, and Kim Young-kwon, who was running from the left side of the goal, pushed into the head.
Defensive uneasiness and passing mistakes were also numerous that day. In the 38th minute conceding situation, 7 defenders were inside the penalty box, but they might not properly block the 3 Egyptian attackers. There were also several dangerous scenes in our camp where the ball was stolen by an Egyptian striker by mistake. Inaccurate passes from midfielder to attacking continued to disrupt the attack flow.
Egypt showed signs of exhaustion in the second half. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Korea scored a key to victory with goals from Cho Kyu-seong and Kwon Chang-hoon (Kim Cheon) in the 40th minute of the second half and extra time in the second half. Bento said, “All four goals we scored were in different situations, and the performances and attitudes of the players were good. The important thing is to keep moving forward while maintaining what we did well.”
By Yoo Jae-young, staff reporter [email protected]
By Kim Jeong-hoon, staff reporter [email protected]
