Four things we learned from win over Greece

By Kim Tong-hyung

Park Chu-young and Son Heung-min were on target as Korea clinched a 2-0 win over Greece in a friendly match in Athens Wednesday. The game served as the final tune-up test for the national team before manager Hong Myung-bo announces his final roster for the World Cup in May.

Here are four things we learned from Taeguk Warriors’ reassuring victory where they looked competent and confident for the first time in a long time.

To put it briefly, Hong finally appears to be settling on a starting lineup, the striker debate is over, the goalkeeper debate is probably not, and of course things can still go horribly wrong before or after the real show begins in Brazil.

Hong may have his best-11

Hong has consistently stuck with a defensive-minded 4-2-3-1 formation and appears to have narrowed the list of players he believes suit the system.

Barring injuries or career-altering slumps, it’s likely that most of the players he started in Athens will probably be starting in the World Cup opener against Russia on June 17. That doubles as a comment on the players’ talents and the lack of depth Hong is struggling to deal with.

In his first appearance for the national team in 13 months, Park Chu-young, the 28-year-old Arsenal striker currently on loan at Watford, impressed as Hong’s target man, marking his return with a first-half goal that proved to be the game winner.

Koo Ja-cheol, the Mainz midfielder, played behind him and was influential throughout the match with his relentless attacking.

Son Heung-min, the Bayer Leverkusen star who is quickly emerging as the face of Korean football, started on the left flank and was by far the most effective player at Karaiskakis Stadium, his second-half goal capping off a brilliant display of skill and flair.

Lee Chung-yong, the Bolton Wanderers midfielder, is locked as Hong’s wide attacker on the right.

Ki Sung-yeung of Swansea City is irreplaceable as a deep-lying playmaker and Han Kook-young, the search-and-destroy artist from Japanese club Shonan Bellmare, seems to have a leg up over competitors as his central midfield partner.

The center-back axis of Hong Jeong-ho (Augusburg) and Kim Young-gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande) continues to be the foundation of the Korean defense. But the picture at the fullback positions is more flexible. Against Greece, Kim Jin-su (Albirex Niigata) started on the left, opposite Lee Yong (Ulsan Hyundai).

It still seems as if Jung Sung-ryong’s (Suwon Bluewings) job as goalkeeper is his to lose, but Hong continues to be reluctant in fully committing to him over Kim Seung-gyu (Ulsan Hyundai).

Jung played the whole match against the Greeks, but looked indecisive behind the back four that was tested several times throughout the match. He escaped with a clean sheet, but much of it had to do with luck, as the Greeks had three shots that hit the bar in the first-half alone.

”For Jung, the competition continues,’’ Hong sternly told reporters after the match.

It’s Park’s job to lose as striker

With Korea displaying an alarming lack of firepower in the past months, Park’s return to international football dictated the media attention ahead of the match.

After a stellar first-half that saw him score his first goal for Korea in more than two years, the veteran forward, virtually a forgotten player in English club football, showed he can be a significantly more valuable asset for Hong.

Park’s opener in the 18th minute was exactly the kind of goal his closest competitor Kim Shin-wook, the towering Ulsan Hyundai striker, struggles to convert.

Released on an expert overhead pass from Son, Park timed the ball perfectly and converted a first-touch left-footer that Greek goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos failed to make a play on.

Even without the goal, Park’s performance would have been rated as inspiring. While it’s risky to rush to conclusions after a single game, Park at least on this night looked reasonably close to the player he was in his prime, showing an ability to win possession, make plays and be a constant scoring threat.

Park let his presence felt early, collecting a cross from Kim Jin-su near the box, waiting for a cutting Lee Chung-yong to arrive before dishing him the ball to create a killer opportunity in the 6th minute. However, Lee, who only had to beat Glykos, deflected the close-range attempt off the goalkeeper’s foot.

He caused considerable problems for the Greek defense throughout the first-half with his creativity and movement without the ball.

Park was replaced by Kim in the second half and left the stadium without talking to reporters after the game. Not that he needed to because his 45-minutes of play more than qualified as a statement.

”Park played with us for the first time, but there were no problems chemistry wise. He played with many of his current teammates in the London Olympics, so it might not have been a dramatic adjustment for him,’’ Hong said after the match.

”I wanted to give him more minutes, but he is recovering from a minor injury to his left knee, so there was no need to push him.’’

Korea’s hope lies with Son

Park used the Greece match to announce the rumors of his demise as greatly exaggerated. Son spent it on providing a firm grasp of the obvious.

It barely needs saying, but the evidence is clearer than ever: Korea will need a sharp and assertive Son to have a realistic shot of surviving the World Cup group stages, where it’s pitted against Belgium, Russia and Algeria.

While Hong has assembled a talented group of young players, the gap between Son and Korea’s next-best player has now become a gulf.

The 21-year-old’s rare combination of pace, skills, awareness and shooting ability was on full display in Athens, where he was a constant source of terror as an inside-out attacker on the left flank.

Son, who has posted eight goals and five assists for Bayer Leverkusen this season, showed a deft touch in assisting Park’s goal. His own goal in the 55th minute, which sealed the game for Korea, was a thing of beauty.

Koo initiated an attack on the break and found Son on the left side of the box. Glykos fully anticipated the direction of Son’s shot and moved closer to the goalpost to cut off his angle. It didn’t matter as Son beamed a left-footer that found the one spot where Glykos couldn’t touch it.

It was a superb finish that seemed to be stolen from a Robin van Persie highlight reel. And the two-footed Son is equally effective with the right foot.

Son has been touted as the future of Korean football for some time. Hong can only hope that future is now.

Defense is far from airtight

Hong is a passionate advocate of defensive-minded football, but his players have been inconsistent in materializing his ideas on the field.

With Hong’s predecessor Choi Kang-hee, the Taeguk Warriors struggled against teams with fast and skilled players in the Asian qualifying rounds.

While the defense has improved since Hong injected Hong Jeong-ho into the back four, the unit still doesn’t look capable of playing shutdown defense at the highest level of international football.

While Greece had no world-class individuals, its attackers were big and athletic enough to trouble Korean defenders.

Fortunately for the Koreans, the Greeks seemed visibly deflated after the three shots hit the bar. Costas Katsouranis squandered an opportunity from close in, in the 21st minute, Vassilis Torosidis headed onto the crossbar nine minutes later and Kostas Mitroglou found the same spot off the rebound.

At the World Cup, Korea will be facing much-better players, such as Belgium’s Eden Hazard and Kevin Mirallas, who share a habit of giving defenders fits.

With Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Young-gwon settled as central defenders, Hong’s room for changes lies at fullback. However, the cupboard seems rather bare of legitimate options.

Hong had planned to experiment with Cha Du-ri and Hwang Seok-ho against Greece before injuries prevented the players from joining the trip. It remains to be seen whether Hong decides to include them in his final roster anyway.

Hong can only hope that Hong Jeong-ho and Kim can manage to stay healthy until the World Cup opener against Russia on June 17 as they are irreplaceable on his roster.

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