ETO Scouting Report: South Korea
El Tri will have another round of International friendlies in the upcoming days, facing two Asian opponents, South Korea and Japan. Today we will focus on the first of these two opponents, South Korea.
Mexico was South Korea’s first international opponent in 1948 at the London Olympic games, a game the Taegeuk Warriors won 5-3. Since then, the teams have met 12 times, with Los Aztecas leading the head to head match up with seven wins, two draws, and three losses.
The Tigers of Asia are currently ranked in the 38th position in the FIFA World Ranking. They are led by Portuguese coach Paulo Bento, who was appointed August 17, 2018. Since then, he has led them to 15 wins, 8 draws, and 2 losses in 25 games scoring 38 goals in favor while only allowing 13 against.
South Korea will have its full squad available for the first time since the COVID Pandemic as the local government would not allow players from outside the country to travel into the country. Bento is still heavily relying on the local league as of the 25 players he has called up; only nine are from outside of South Korea. It interesting to note that all three keepers and eight defenders play in the local league, while the attack will be anchored by exports Son Heung-min from Tottenham, Kwon Chang-hoon of SC Freiburg, Hwang Ui-jo of Bordeaux, Hwang Hee-chan of RB Leipzig, and Lee Kang-in of Valencia. The Taegeuk Warriors will be weak in their backline as full-backs Lee Yong and Hong Chul are both injured, and their Chinese teams did not release CB’s Kim Min-jae and Park Ji-Su. Due to this, six players from South Korea’s U-23 Olympic team have been called up.
Bento uses a 4-1-3-2 formation and uses his players’ speed to counter-attack their opponents. His team focuses on possession through short passes and an aggressive press. His team is very positionally disciplined and focuses their press down the middle of the field. Once they regain possession, the fullbacks shoot up the field to provide the width, and their attackers and midfielders join the attack in two waves, with the wide CM’s cutting inside and the forwards getting in behind the backline. This makes their CDM and CM’s job crucial if the ball is lost covering the wings while the team compresses the middle.
With their aggressive press and wing play, El Tri will have to be tactically on point, and wide men like Tecatito and Chucky will have to be on their game to keep Bento’s wings from moving up the field. Mexico’s defensive line will need to be very sharp and disciplined not to allow the speedy Korean players to get in behind them and quick on the ball to avoid bad passes as South Korea presses. Midfield play will also be important as quick transitions to the wings will be key to breaking South Korea’s high press. El Tata’s teams struggled when pressed high, as shown in his only loss as El Tri coach against Argentina and at times against Algeria.
This is primed to be a good test for El Tri against a speedy, well-coached, counter-attacking team with a World Class Forward. My prediction is Mexico 3 – S.Korea 1.
