S. Korea coach looking to lean on sellout crowd’s support vs. Brazil in friendly

When South Korea men’s football head coach Paulo Bento studied his next opponent, Brazil, in preparation for their upcoming friendly match, he didn’t find that many holes to exploit.

It’d be difficult for any coach to find weaknesses from the top-ranked Selecao. But rather than conceding defeat ahead of Thursday’s showdown at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Bento wants his players to capitalize on their home field advantage, which will come in the form of raucous and partisan fans.

The match is expected to be played before a sellout crowd at the 66,000-seat stadium in the nation’s capital. In his prematch press conference Wednesday, Bento said it will be “best for our players to feel the support of our fans.”

“In the game we’re going to play tomorrow, and the next games, it’s important we have their support,” Bento said in his online session. “I think that kind of thing can help the team to go through tough and difficult moments that we’re going to find during the games.”

Paulo Bento, head coach of the South Korean men’s national football team, speaks during an online press conference at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on June 1, 2022, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

South Korea will play Chile next Monday, Paraguay on June 10 and Egypt on June 14. Matches against Chile and Paraguay, to be played in Daejeon and then in Swuon, have also sold out. Tickets for the Egypt match, back in Seoul, have not gone on sale yet but are expected to be snapped up in a heartbeat, too.

This is a welcome boost to the national team after playing for most of the past two years without fans or with a limited number of supporters in the stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must bring the best attitude because it is what we usually did (before fans were allowed back at matches),” Bento said. “After many, many times without public in the stadium, it’s good to see that life — in this case, football — is becoming normal. This is the best.”

South Korea, ranked 29th, have lost five out of their six meetings against Brazil so far, and their lone victory came in 1999. Their most recent meeting, in November 2019, ended in a 3-0 win for Brazil.

Bento, who was also in charge at the time, said South Korea “competed well in that game,” the final score notwithstanding. With different personnel in place for both sides, Bento said the strategy will also be different this time, but there won’t be any change to the team’s collective effort level.

“We analyzed (Brazil) and they don’t have too many weak points,” Bento said. “But we’ll try to do our best in both processes, defensive and offensive ones, and of course, take advantage of the features and quality of our players. It will be a challenge for us. We’ll try to compete as well as possible against a very, very good team.”

Bento noted that the Brazil match will “demand from us other things than previous games,” given the discrepancy in talent between Brazil and most of South Korea’s recent opponents in Asia. But that doesn’t mean South Korea should completely change their style of play, Bento added.

“We must be ready to do our best in the defensive process, and try to press our opponent in a good way,” the coach said. “At the same time, we should try to play as usual in our offensive process. We know that they press a lot and they have high levels of aggressiveness. But we should try to play as we like, but of course, with some differences in the strategic way.”

Bento kept things close to the vest when asked about his starting lineup for Thursday — “We’ll see tomorrow,” he said — but he is largely expected to tap his usual suspects on offense, Hwang Ui-jo and Hwang Hee-chan.

Both are coming off down years for their European clubs, though. Hwang Ui-jo had 11 goals for FC Girondins Bordeaux but just one in his final 15 games. Hwang Hee-chan, who left Germany to join Wolverhampton Wanderers, had three goals in his first four matches in England, but two more in his next 26.

Bento, though, wasn’t concerned about the two players’ poor form, saying that predicting national team performances based on club showings “doesn’t make sense.”