Team Korea coach looking to polish up strategies with World Cup nearing

With precious little time left to train before his team's first match at this year's FIFA World Cup, the Korean team's manager, Hong Myung-bo, said Saturday that he will try to mold his squad into a more complete unit.

Korea had its first training session in Mexico, where it will play all three Group A matches on Saturday. It was a "Community Training Session" organized by FIFA, with hundreds of fans gathered at Chivas Verde Valle in Zapopan, near Guadalajara.

The Taegeuk Warriors arrived in Mexico on Friday after undergoing about three weeks of altitude training in the U.S. state of Utah and playing two friendly matches there. They will open the World Cup on Thursday at Estadio Guadalajara against the Czech Republic.

The opening training session on Saturday was not an intense one, and the real work will begin on Sunday.

“After playing two matches, we analyzed our strengths and weaknesses," Hong said during a news conference at the training facility. "The key is to polish up our strategies over the remaining days. And since weather conditions here are different from those in Utah, we have to make adjustments in that aspect as well. There isn't enough time to do a lot of things, and so we have to focus on a few things."

Korea defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 and then El Salvador 1-0 while using almost completely different starting lineups.

When asked if it wasn't too close to the World Cup to still be tinkering with his lineup, Hong said, "All of our players have an understanding of our model. We will settle on our combination and have intense training over the next three days."

On paper, Korea, at No. 25 in the latest FIFA rankings, will be favored over the 41st-ranked Czech Republic. But Hong said the European side will not be a pushover.

“They have very distinct characteristics, and they will not be easy to handle," Hong said. "We have to be prepared, especially against their set pieces and crosses. We have to overcome our disadvantage in height."

Hong ran training sessions in the afternoon hours in Utah, but said Saturday he may switch things up in Mexico and schedule workouts in the morning instead.

“We've been keeping close tabs on the weather here. Rain is forecast for almost every afternoon, and we had a ton of rain last night," Hong said. "I will talk to the players and determine if we'll train in the morning or afternoon."

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Yonhap