The 6 Game Stretch: Match 3: Korea U19 1-2 Germany U19 *UPDATED*

Ahn Ik Soo fielded a very interesting lineup in our first match against Germany, and apparently played pretty well against such a strong team. Read on for details:

Song Beom Keun GK with last year’s U17-WC youngsters (they’re 18 not 19) Lee Sang Min in CB and Yoon Jong Gyu in RB. Either one of Woo Chan Yang or Shin Chan Woo, both of whom I know as fullbacks, played CB in place of Kim Suk Jin, who I would have expected to start. Likely, Woo Chan Yang (who just signed for Pohang Steelers straight out of HS) was the CB as he’s played there before but still a puzzling choice from Ahn Ik Soo.

In midfield we saw the usual Park Han Bin – Han Chan Hee combination, with Lim Min Hyeok as the #10. Team maknae (I think?) Kim Jin Ya of Incheon U18 started over Kim Jung Hwan, with Kang Ji Hoon on the left and Lee Dong Jun as the FW.

Unfortunately, there is LITERALLY no information about this match right now outside of the goals (Lee Dong Jun gave us the lead @ 14′ but they equalized at 42′ and 77′). No highlights are up and not a single reporter has written about anything aside from the lineup and the goals. I will keep looking and update this post if anything comes up.

UPDATE:

  • Kang Ji Hoon played up top with Kim Dong Jun right and Kim Jin Ya left.
  • The assist for Kim Dong Jun came from a offsides beating pass from Han Chan Hee. Apparently it was such a perfect pass the entire stadium reacted loudly to it.
  • Our players impressively did not get pushed around, covered a lot of ground to elicit pass misses from Germany, apparently the linkup play and passing was good.
  • Germany got better as the game went on and we’d be pushed deeper and deeper – after all we had arrived in Germany just two games before and they’re physically stronger (being not Asian) anyway.
  • After making three subs at halftime (Germany made four). It was generally defensive, notably with Han Chan Hee coming off for Lee Seung Mo the CB/DM.
  • Ahn Ik Soo would make SEVEN MORE SUBS – a total of 10 subs at halftime alone.
  • Hwang Sun Hong and Cha Du Ri were in attendance. Hwang is currently studying in Germany with teams like Dortmund, Hertha Berlin, and Monchengladbach – here’s to hoping he comes back a better coach than before!

Some very interesting stuff from Ahn Ik Soo is detailed below. He wants the players to independently figure things out on their own – that is, he didn’t give many instructions and fielded ten subs in halftime alone hoping the players would find and correct their own mistakes.

http://sports.news.naver.com/kfootball/news/read.nhn?oid=139&aid=0002053219

Here are some player reactions

“유럽 잔디가 국내 잔디랑 많이 달라요. 질퍽 질퍽해서 종아리 쪽에 무리가 많이 와요. 잔디에 적응하는데 선수들이 시간이 많이 걸렸어요. 유럽 선수들 힘이 워낙 좋다는 얘기를 익히 들었는데 막상 부딪혀 보니 못 겨뤄볼 정도는 아니었어요.” –한찬희(19) 전남드래곤즈

^ Some interesting stuff from Han Chan Hee – apparently the pitch in Europe is a lot softer than the pitch in Korea and they had a tough time adapting as it put a lot of strain in their legs.

“전반전은 우리 팀이 그 동안 준비했던 것을 보여줬다고 생각해요. 하지만 시간이 지나면서 체력적으로 어려움이 있어 우리 플레이를 하지 못한 것 같아요. 시차도 적응하는 중이니 체력적인 부분만 보완하면 나아질 거라고 생각해요. 독일 선수들은 체격이 좋은데도 전체적으로 볼을 세밀하게 다루더라고요. 드리블, 움직임을 다시 생각해 보려고요.” 박한빈(18), 대구FC

Daegu FC’s aspiring DM Park Han Bin says that as time went on they had physical/stamina shortcomings. Seeing the German player’s passing, dribbling, and movement was inspiring for him.

“한국 수비수들을 상대로 드리블을 할 때는 각도를 많이 안 꺾어도 돌파할 수 있었거든요. 그런데 유럽선수들은 다리도 길고 신체조건도 좋아서 그런지 확실히 안 꺾으면 바로 뺏기게 되더라고요. 그리고 판단력이요. 세컨 볼 리바운드 위치에 독일 선수들이 먼저 가 있었어요.” –김진야(17), 인천대건고

^Apparently, there are many differences in the way Korean defenders defend and how European players defend. Namely, in Korea, you can dribble past players without too many changes of direction, but with European defenders you have to make a lot of quick changes of directions, otherwise you’d lose the ball right away. Moreover, the German players had an uncanny ability to get the second ball rebound – their positioning was apparently much better than ours.

“압박이 붙어도 당황하지 않고 여유 있게 플레이 하는 점을 배워야 할 것 같아요. 그리고 빌드업 하는 과정에서 볼을 많이 받으려고 하는 점, 그 점도 우리와 달랐습니다. 우리 진영에서 경기를 풀어나갈 때 우리도 좀 더 자신 있게 하려고요. 평가전이라서 교체를 많이 한다고 하던데, 교체 이후에도 경기 흐름을 유지하는 것도 더 준비해야 할 것 같아요.” –한찬희(19), 전남드래곤즈

Han Chan Hee says we need more confidence in the face of strong pressure from the German players.

“세계의 벽은 높다고 느꼈습니다. 피지컬에서 오는 차이가 컸어요. 힘을 기르는 것이 얼마나 중요한지에 대해서 크게 느꼈습니다. U-20 월드컵에서 4강에 들려면 아직 갈 길이 먼 것 같아요. 상대의 플레이에서는 자신감이 느껴졌어요. 우리도 더 자신감을 가지고 경기해야 했어요. 생각이 많아졌습니다.” –우찬양(18), 포항스틸러스

^ Woo Chan Yang says there was a massive gap in physicality, and says there is a very long way to go if they are to go anywhere near the semifinals in the U20 WC. Says the team has a lot to think about now.

 

Overall I’m glad they played against such a strong team so early on – they clearly are learning a lot and realizing that despite scoring first, they were outclassed.

 

Tomorrow is the senior NT match against Thailand.

About Jinseok 259 Articles
Diehard Korean football fan. https://www.taegukwarriors.com/jinseoks-story/

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