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Two losses expose Korea’s lack of depth

February 3, 2014

Forward Kim Shin-wook helps up midfielder Park Jong-woo during the Korean national team’s 2-0 loss to the United States in Carson, Calif., Sunday (KST). (Yonhap)

By Kim Tong-hyung

After Korea looked listless in its defeat to the United States in their friendly match in California on Sunday, manager Hong Myung-bo chose to talk about the intangibles. That was understandable given that nothing tangible allowed him to argue this was a team making progress.

The 2-0 loss to the Americans, led by Chris Wondolowski who scored both goals, came on the heels of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Mexicans in San Antonio last week.

The results don’t matter, but the way the Koreans played – confused on offense and jumpy on defense – probably does. The lack of depth and overall talent continue to be a concern for Hong, who is trying to rebuild the team on the fly before the World Cup finals in June.

”As manager, I believe this was a training camp where we learned a lot and became better,’’ Hong told Korean reporters after the U.S. match.

”I think many people will be disappointed by the outcome. For that, the blame should fall on me. The players gave their best.’’

Hong had arrived in the U.S. with an under-strength side and hoped to audition new players who can complement his core of Europe-based stars such as Song Heung-min, Lee Chung-yong, Ki Sung-yeung and Hong Jeong-ho.

But through the three friendly matches in the U.S., the first of them a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in Los Angeles, it’s difficult to say that any of the fringe players showed himself worthy of inclusion on the squad for Brazil.

Forwards Kim Shin-wook and Lee Keun-ho and defenders Lee Yong and Kim Jin-su seemed to be the only players who showed any level of consistency. But these are players who are already safely established on Hong’s squad.

Against the U.S., Park Jong-woo and Lee Ho disappointed as a central-midfield pair, equally inept at shielding a patchwork defensive line and injecting creative input into the attack that overly relied on the individual abilities of Kim Shin-wook and Lee Keun-ho.

The uninspiring play of the midfielders was particularly concerning as Hong has yet to decide on the central midfielder to pair with Sunderland standout Ki Sung-yeung in his starting lineup, which favors the packed midfield of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Hong’s defense seems shallower than feared. During the U.S. training camp, Kim Ju-young and Kim Ki-hee failed to present themselves as worthy backups to Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Young-gwon, showing a lack of confidence both in the air and on their feet, and reacting to balls as if they were hand grenades.

The Korean attack has looked much better when Kim Shin-wook and Lee Keun-ho has been supported by Son Heung-min, the up-and-coming Bayer Leverkusen striker, Lee Chung-yong, the skillful Bolton Wanderers distributor, and Kim Bo-kyung, the versatile Cardiff City player. Take out any of these players, however, and the offense will move with the pace and predictability of glaciers.

The U.S. camp was regarded as the final opportunity for fringe players to make their case for inclusion on the World Cup squad. Hong plans to have most of his starters back for the friendly match against Greece in March. At the World Cup finals in Brazil, Korea has been grouped with Belgium, Algeria and Russia in Group H.

In Sunday’s match, the Americans got on board early in the fourth minute when Wondolowski calmly nodded in a wide-open header after Korean goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong deflected a shot from Brad Davis.

Kim Ju-young missed an opportunity to tie the game four minutes later when his header off a corner-kick was blocked by American goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Kim Shin-wook squandered a critical opportunity in the 57th minute when he couldn’t put enough on his header, and Wondolowski put the game away three minutes later from close range.