DUBAI (Yonhap News) ― A confident South Korea will chase its third straight international football victory when it faces Russia here in Dubai on Tuesday.
The match will start at Zabeel Stadium at 6 p.m. local time, or 11 p.m. in South Korea.
Coached by Hong Myung-bo, the 56th-ranked South Korea came from behind to stun the world No. 7 Switzerland 2-1 at home last Friday.
The win came on the heels of a 3-1 home victory over Mali in October.
This will be the last friendly match for South Korea in 2013.
In nine matches under Hong, who took over the team in June, South Korea has won three times, along with three defeats and three draws.
Both South Korea and Russia, ranked 19th in the world, have booked their places for next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil. With Fabio Capello at the helm, Russia is atop of Group F in the European qualifying tournament with seven wins, two losses and one draw. The team scored 20 goals in those 10 matches while giving up only five.
In the galvanizing win over Switzerland, South Korea also seemed to have figured out how to best utilize striker Kim Shin-wook. The 196-centimeter target man didn’t score a goal but was the team’s biggest offensive spark plug, literally and figuratively.
Coach Hong, who hardly singles out players in public, had earlier said Kim’s presence on the field actually hurt the team’s offensive flow because his teammates would only seek to send in long crosses for the towering forward’s head. Kim came off the bench in Hong’s first three games as the head coach, but didn’t make the national team for the next five contests, as South Korea scrambled to find a worthy striker.
When such efforts failed, Hong reached out to Kim again. The Ulsan Hyundai striker, who leads the domestic K League Classic with 19 goals this season, duly responded to Hong’s faith, creating a handful of scoring chances with deft passes and generally demonstrating that he has a strong ground game to complement his aerial attack.
Another offensive star from the match was winger Lee Keun-ho, who replaced the ineffective Kim Bo-kyung to begin the second half.
Lee has scored five of his 18 international goals in the Middle East and may receive the starting gig this time.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday in Dubai, coach Hong acknowledged his players’ perseverance in the win over Switzerland.
“Coming from behind to beat such a strong opponent showed that our team now has some strength and confidence,” he said. “Since this will be our last international match of the year, I hope it can help our players build even more confidence,”
Confidence may not be an issue for the South Koreans, but fatigue could be. They left home the day after the Switzerland game and will have to deal with jetlag.
The Russians, on the other hand, arrived in Dubai earlier than their counterparts. Russia faced Serbia in a friendly last Friday here which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Hong said his team must learn how to play through challenging conditions.
“They haven’t had much sleep coming over here, but they need to learn how to deal with these situations,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity to test ourselves in a difficult environment.”
