'No experiment for Qatar'

'No experiment for Qatar'

Korea’s Olympic footballers train at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Olympic-bound Korea will face Qatar at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul Wednesday. / Yonhap Hong vows to treat fixture as Games opener By Cho Mu-hyun The Olympic football team led by Hong Myung-bo is to face Qatar in the final qualifier for London at home on Wednesday. Though Korea secured a berth at the Summer Games with a 3-0 win against Oman on Feb. 22, the 42-year-old manager vowed to keep his side sharp and not take the other team lightly. “We will enter the Qatar fixture and regard it as the opener of the main Games instead of the last match of the final qualifying round,” said Hong at the National Football Center where the squad trained Monday. “Qatar has prepared hard to clinch second place in the group, and will give everything they’ve got in the match.” “We’ve had insufficient time to train but we have many players who have prepared in advance, so we will be fine,” he added. The 22-man roster was released on March 6, which was visibly different from previous squads. Yun Il-lok, Moon Sang-yoon, Shim Dong-woon and Park Yong-ji, all playing in the K-League, have replaced team pillars Kim Bo-kyoung and Baek Sung-dong. The changes mostly exclude those in the J-League while picking many lesser known footballers for the first time, drawing speculation that the manager is using the opportunity to give other players some game time and try a refreshing approach. But Hong stressed that the changes are not a test. “The match against Qatar is an important step towards the main Games. We have not experimented since the final qualifying round began in September last year. We tried to maximize our strength with the players we have had at a given time.” Hong is well known for never deciding on the final 11 until match day, to keep the players under constant pressure to perform. “The Olympic squad has 18 unlike the World Cup roster (which has 23). One player must at least be able to execute one or two formations,” he said, not subtle in his demands as usual. The squad for London will include two goalkeepers and three “wild card” selections. While the Olympic qualifiers have a strict age limit of 23 for participants, each side can pick three over-23 players for the Games themselves. As older players are usually more capable than their younger counterparts, it is rare for managers to forgo the option. Therefore, only 13 spots are open for younger players who are eager for the chance. “I want to give a good performance for the home fans,” said Kim Hyun-sung, who knows his manager’s inclinations better than anyone. “The competition is fierce for (places in the squad) with wild cards being mentioned. But the most important thing is to show my capabilities.” Kim, who netted the second goal against Oman and played well for FC Seoul in his last two outings, is the strongest candidate to spearhead the attack in the 4-2-3-1 formation that Hong is likely to deploy. If the manager’s intention is to continue in his typical method with past fixtures, Kim Tae-hwan and Suh Jung-jin are strong possibilities to take the wings. The two forward positions vacant due to changes in personnel last week is the only mystery remaining. Lee Bueom-young, who made some spectacular blocks against Oman, is likely to wear the gloves again unless he suffers a drastic decline in match fitness.