Korea tighten security
Korea’s meeting with the USA will take place on Monday against a backdrop of heavy security and worries about an outbreak of anti-American feeling in the local population.
Quite apart from the need of both sides to secure victory and continue their excellent start to the World Cup, sporting rivalry between Korea and the United States has been frosty rather than friendly for a number of years.
Relations have dipped to freezing since the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City earlier this year, when speed skater Kim Dong-sung was disqualified from a gold medal position in favour of the American runner-up Apolo Anton Ohno, who claimed he had been blocked by the Korean.
The decision by an Australian judge led to protests not only from Korean team officials, but also by thousands of Seoul inhabitants who surrounded the US embassy.
As a result of the tense situation, Korean president Kim Dae-jung has announced he will not attend the game in Daegu ‘‘because of the emotional nature of the match‘‘.
Security will be beefed up around the stadium and anti-American protests outside the ground have already been prohibited.
Police are monitoring reports that students and unions had planned to stage demonstrations against the presence of 37,000 US troops stationed on the border with North Korea.
The rivalry and tension does raise the stakes and whet the appetite, but at the same time it has deflected attention away from two teams who have surprised many by the excellence of their play on the field.
Korea had already served notice of their progress under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink with good performances in friendlies against England and France before their defeat of Poland in the first match of the finals.
Hiddink has worked on the Koreans’ approach to the game, increased their fitness and made them concentrate on closing down opponents.
At the same time, he has - to much criticism at first - left out a couple of old favourites and brought in some technically-gifted young players.
One such player is striker Seol Ki-hyeon, who plays for Anderlecht, who was perhaps Korea’s best player in the 2-0 defeat of Poland and also shone in the games against England and France.
Hwang Sun-Hong, Korea’s experienced striker and scorer of the first goal against Poland, believes the fervent support of the fans will once again inspire the players.
‘‘They were a huge source of strength for us against Poland,’’ said Hwang.
‘‘The huge red wave of supporters must have been intimidating and let’s hope they can provide that again.’’
But if the abilities of the Koreans were an eye-opener, it was nothing compared to the shock of the USA beating Portugal 3-2.
Surprisingly, many of the stars of that performance, such as Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Brian McBride, play for clubs in the US Major League.
Donovan and Beasley in particular are both young players with excellent technique and plenty of pace.
Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel believes they will have won admiring looks from European club scouts.
He said: ‘‘This team has many players who could perform at the top level. I’m an admirer of American players because I know what they can do.
‘‘There are reasons European coaches do not go for Americans - a lot of times you run into hassles with visas, or hassles with work permits - but the quality is certainly there.’’
Friedel insists making the second round is a real possibility.
‘‘We believe in ourselves, even if the world doesn’t,’’ he added.
‘‘In reality, we have achieved nothing so far - it would be on good going home with three points. We’ve seen what a good team Korea are, we are the underdogs again, but we will enjoy playing that role.’’
US defender Jeff Agoos believes the team are finally making an impact back home in a country where balls are usually only of interest if they are preceded by basket, base or American foot.
Agoos said: ‘‘People at home are thrilled and it’s great there’s an awareness. Reaction in the last three or four years, if any, has been nothing but negative about this team.
‘‘People have been bashing us and saying soccer is not even a real sport in our country, so it has been nice to have been able to prove those people wrong.’’
