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| Director Hong Myung-bo at a press conference |
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| Director Hong Myung-bo at a press conference |
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"My goal is to get good results and perform well."
Hong Myung-bo, head coach of the South Korean national team (23rd in FIFA rankings), expressed his will to catch both performance and results a day before the warm-up match against the United States. Hong Myung-bo will play his first friendly match against the U.S. national team, led by Mauricio Pochettino, at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, at 6 a.m. on the 7th (Korea time).
Asked by Yonhap News and other reporters at a pre-press conference held at the stadium on the 6th, the day before, Hong said, `It is important to perform well while getting results and how much we can show the tactics we have prepared in the face of strong opponents. It would be a good scenario if we caught all of that."
It can be said that it is the first mock test in North American World Cup of the representative needle, who has confirmed his 10th consecutive World Cup finals. Super elite members from overseas, including Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, and Lee Kang-in, participated in the event. The U.S. was runner-up at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which was held until July, and is more serious than ever in preparing for next year's World Cup at home. Coach Hong, who had experience playing against the U.S. at the helm of the first national team in 2014, said, `The U.S. was a strong team at that time, but it was to check the skills of the players in Korea at the time, and this game will be very different because we are preparing for the World Cup nine months before it.'
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| Son Heung-min and Jens Kastroff ahead of the U.S. match |
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| Jens Kastroff training |
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In particular, German midfielder Jens Kastrov (Mönchengladbach), who is the first overseas-born mixed-race player to mark the national flag, is interested in the A-match warm-up match. Coach Hong said, `Kastroff is very well adapted to the team even though it is a short time. to give feedback on tactical movements, etc"We have to see if we can play in the game, but I think we should give some time.", he expressed his expectation.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
