Saturday 12 June 2010

SKO v GRE (1230 GMT)

Starting Line-up
SKO: Jung, Cho, Lee, Lee, Cha, Kim, Park, Ki, Lee, Yeom
GRE: Tzorvas, Seitaridis, Papadopuplos, Vyntra, Torosidis, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Samaras, Charisteas, Gekas

Despite not winning under domestic manager, Korea's moral was high as they had good pre-World Cup matches. With their captain Jisung Park fully fit, they were roaring to go against Greece side, who didn't have particularly good records in friendlies.

First Half
Greece started with slow tempo and they looked sluggish when Korea played their ball forwards. It did not take them long to score when Korea's central defender Jungsoo Lee, converted free kick from near corner spot.
Korea kept their pressure up and minutes later it was Chungyong Lee who had chance to score in Greek penalty box. But it was well defended by Greek central defence, although there was suspicion of penalty.
Match continued to be in Korean's favour and when their central midfielder Jisung Park delivered excellent through pass to Chuyoung Park, he seemed to be destined to score. Unfortunately, it was saved by left feet of Greek goalkeeper.
Greece had their moment right before the half time when Torosidis crossed excellent ball into the Korean penalty box but Gekas, their qualifying leading scorer, could not make contact with the ball.
HT: 1-0
MOTM of 1st Half: Chungyong Lee - He has been constant threat against Greek fullback.

Second Half
Korea kept up the pace when the match got restarted and in 53rd minute, poor first touch from Vyntra allowed Jisung Park to sneak in and score.
Rehhagel made changes to turn the tides but it fell short and with Gekas failed to score their best opportunity on 80th minute, the game was certainly over. First victory for Korea under domestic manager but it was rather poor game in the end.
FT: 2-0
MOTM of 2nd Half: Jisung Park - He ignited in 2nd half and scored 2nd goal to settle Koreans' nerve back home.

Overview
High tempo was the key in this match. Greek defence was very poor against young Korean midfield, who were constant threat to them. Their forwards lacked composure and efforts to go through against fairly well organised Korean defence. Euro 2004 winner? yes they were, but it is past. They got to move on and bring new manager in.




1 comment:

thomas said...

korea did will JK