FC Seoul striker Park Chu-young, left, will spearhead the South Korean attack against North Korea, which has its own frontline predator in Jong Tae-se, in their World Cup qualifier in Seoul Sunday. / Korea Times File

Koreas Set for Cross-Border Football Clash

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

South Korea versus North Korea at the Seoul World Cup Stadium Sunday will mark the first time the Cold War foes meet in an International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)-organized match held within the peninsula.

And that (yawn) is the only source of significance in this otherwise meaningless World Cup qualifier.

Both countries have their spots booked for the fourth and final phase of the Asian World Cup qualifiers beginning in September, featuring the region's top 10 teams competing for four or five berths to South Africa in 2010.

However, it's hard to blame South Korea boss Huh Jung-moo if he doesn't treat Sunday's round-three finale as an overblown practice match when the team's uninspiring play of late has critics questioning his tactics and team selection.

The coach's tenure so far looks like a football equivalent of Lee Myung-bak's presidency, a six-month journey turned circular and pointless and earmarked only by monthly apologies.

Huh is hoping that his players could finally justify his loyalty for them with a convincing spanking of their northern neighbors at home. There is a possibility that the two Koreas will be drawn together again in the next round, and Huh believes a victory in Seoul would give the South Koreans the mental edge.

However, with some of his best players out with injuries, Huh now finds himself reaching deeper into his depth chart than he normally prefers.

``We will be playing to win against North Korea, but the match is also a chance for us to test some of the players who haven't been getting minutes," Huh said, but he would have surely preferred having Manchester United winger Park Ji-sung at his disposal against the cross-border rivals.

Park, one of the few international-class players on the squad, is still bothered by a surgically-repaired right knee that kept him out for nine months after the 2006-2007 season.

Huh will have West Bromwich Albion playmaker Kim Do-heon replace Park in the hole, where he will be assigned in a free-roaming role behind main striker Park Chu-young.

However, the loss of Suwon BlueWings standout Cho Won-hee might be harder to overcome. Cho has arguably been Huh's most consistent performer, flourishing in a destructive role alongside Kim Nam-il, who is more of a deep-lying distributor, in the central midfield axis.

With Cho out with a stress fracture on his left ankle, Huh is gambling that Seongnam Chunma's Kim Jung-woo would be good enough as a stopgap.

Jung-woo has good size and strength for his position and Huh loves his ability to read games, but the languid midfielder is not the all-action performer Cho is.

This is likely to put a further strain on Nam-il, who is not the physical player he was in his 20s, and Huh could be losing sleep over thoughts of weathering jet-heeled North Korean marauders like Jong Tae-se and Hong Young-jo without Cho's presence.

A compromised midfield would obviously test the mettle of Huh's squad, which so far has been exposed for its lack of firepower up front and composure at the back.

Despite finding a promising young star in the BlueWings' Lee Jung-soo, whose combination of strength and speed is impressive, Huh would rather use Chunma veteran Cho Byung-kuk in a center back axis with Chunnam Dragons hit man Kang Min-soo.

Dragons wingback Kim Chi-woo and FC Samara defender Oh Beom-seok are likely to get the calls on the flank.

Both Byung-kuk and Kang are confident in the air, but struggle when forced to turn around and chase the ball, and goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong must be quick to clear up whatever gets through the slow-footed defenders.

Under Huh's strictly controlled 4-2-3-1 formation, FC Seoul's Chu-young is once again assigned to the role of lone striker, a job he has never shown much talent for. Daegu FC forward Lee Keun-ho and Lee Chung-young, Chu-young's club teammate, are out there to get crosses in but will be granted the freedom to take matters into their own hands should Chu-young fail to establish a presence in the danger area.

MBC will provide live coverage of the match starting at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr