The South Korean men’s soccer team has ended its 2012 season on a three-game winless skid, following the 2-1 loss to Australia in a friendly Wednesday, as head coach Choi Kang-hee’s latest experiment produced mixed results.

The team drew Uzbekistan 2-2 in Tashkent in September in its World Cup qualifier, and then dropped to Iran 1-0 in Tehran the following month.

The Australian match was the last international contest for South Korea in 2012. The next World Cup qualifying match, at home against Qatar, isn’t until March next year, and Choi wanted to use the friendly against the Aussies as an opportunity to deploy different lineup combinations in preparing for 2013.

The coach walked away with some positives but also a lot of question marks.

South Korea’s problems on defense are hardly new, and they were exposed again versus Australia.

It is also a unit in transition. For the better part of the past two years, Lee Jung-soo and Kwak Tae-hwi have been the pillars of the central defense. Choi, though, has said he will need to find a new combination at the heart of the defense for upcoming qualification matches and, should Korea get that far, for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Against Australia, Choi started unheralded Kim Ki-hee as a central defender, alongside Jung In-hwan. It was Kim’s first international match and Jung’s third.

The Qatar-based Kim was the only defender to play the entire match.

Jung, a K-Leaguer, was replaced in the second half by Hwang Seok-ho, who plays club football in Japan.

Though his team allowed two goals, Choi said it wasn’t the fault of Kim and Hwang.

“Kim and Hwang played much better than I’d expected them to play,” Choi said. “I had been watching them closely for a while, and I think they will keep putting in some great work for the national team.”

Fullbacks, on the other hand, gave Choi even more headaches.

He started Kim Young-gwon, who plays in China, as his left fullback. The usually versatile Kim has played at different positions on defense, but on Wednesday, he often looked lost.

On Australia’s first goal just before halftime, Kim was caught out of position as Nikita Rukavytsya took a seemingly harmless pass from Tommy Oar and was left unmarked before he put it in the net.

Kim, who exclusively plays as a central defender for his Guangzhou club, admitted after the game that he didn’t feel comfortable playing out of position.

“I found it difficult to make adjustments,” he said. “I understand this was the coach’s decision, and I will have to do whatever I can to adjust. I realized today that in order to play for the national team, I will have to develop skills to play in multiple positions.”

Shin Kwang-hoon, who started at right fullback, displayed some of the offensive skills that helped him make the team, but left much to be desired on the defensive end.

“Shin played a decent game but he had trouble controlling the distance of his passes,” the coach noted. “His poor passing led to the first Australian goal late in the first half.”

Most South Koreans plying their trade overseas are midfielders and forwards, and that forces Choi to pick players from the K-League.

He hasn’t shied away from recalling virtual unknowns, such as Choi Jae-soo of the Suwon Samsung Bluewings, who played his first international game against Australia.

There is not as much pressure to uncover diamonds in the rough on offense.

The country has plenty of options in midfield and up front, with key national team members excelling in both Europe and at home. The usual suspects include Park Chu-young of Celta Vigo in Spain, midfielders Koo Ja-cheol of Augsburg in Germany and Ki Sung-yueng of Swansea City in the Premier League.

The 20-year-old dynamo Son Heung-min has emerged as a top-flight scorer in Germany’s first division, and Lee Keun-ho, a forward for Ulsan in the K-League, has helped the team win the AFC Champions League, the premier club football championship in Asia, and was named the MVP of the tournament. He has also been shortlisted for the AFC Player of the Year honors. (Yonhap News)