South Korea's last group match against Honduras Wednesday might be their last appearance at the Beijing Olympic Games if they fail to seize the last chances to advance to the quarterfinals of the men's soccer tournament.
The two teams stay laggard in Group D so far, with South Korea collecting one point and Honduras none. As Italy has secured their passage to the quarterfinals with two 3-0 victories and Cameroon has got four points from two matches, South Korea cannot qualify unless they beat Honduras by more than three goals and Italy offers them a favour by defeating the "Indomitable Lions".
"Much stronger, better-organized and more balanced, Italy has got strength to overcme Cameroon. Of course, they may not send their best 11 players, but they would still win to avoid facing Brazil in the quarterfinals," South Korea coach Park Sung-Wha told a press conference on Monday.
For their next match, Park pins his hope on all-offensive tactics. They scored only four goals in six games and conceded one on their way to Beijing.
"We will play a more attacking game and keep careful at the same time. It's difficult, but we'll prepare ourselves on the best way," said the coach, who has pledged to mould his team into an attack-oriented outfits since he took over last August.
Though the qualification propect is dim, if forward Park Chu-Young keeps contributing free kicks and midfielder Baek Ji-Hong recollects his form, his hitmen still have the possibility to create miracles in their life or death game against the Catrachos.
After their second group match failure to Cameroon last Sunday, Honduras is now knocked out but still looking to restore pride.
"South Koreans played well in their first two games. Despite two defeats, we're still confident of our organization. What we lack is good luck," said Honduras coach Gilberto Yearwood, adding that even if they fail to qualify, life still goes on.
With Emil Martinez and Luis Rodas continuously posing trouble to the Italian and Cameroonian defences, the Catrachos showed fine individual skills in their first two group games. Their weak spot is widely deemed to be the lack of Olympic experiences.
Honduras is taking part in their second Olympic tournament following Sydney. South Korea is at their sixth successive Games, leaving the best performance in Athens where they progressed beyond the group stage for the first time.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)