The South American qualifying round doesn't work...Paraguay Coach Korea's Three Backs Has Enough Competitiveness in Final Round

Oct 14, 2025

The South American qualifying round doesn't work...Paraguay Coach Korea's Three Backs Has Enough Competitiveness in Final Round
A warm-up match between the South Korean national soccer team and Paraguay at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 14th. South Korea won 2-0. Director Hong Myung-bo shakes hands with Paraguay's Alfaro. Sangam = Reporter's book@sportschosun.com/2025.10.14/



Paraguay's coach Gustavo Alfaro expressed regret for his complete defeat against Korea.

Paraguay lost 0-2 in a friendly match against South Korea at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 14th. Paraguay, which had a 2-2 draw against Japan earlier, gave Um Ji-sung (Swansea City) the first goal in the 15th minute of the first half due to a defensive error, and allowed a space behind the defense in the 29th minute of the second half, giving Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk) an additional point following a solo dribble. Paraguay, which allowed only 10 runs in 18 matches of the 2026 North American World Cup South American qualifiers, showed its helplessness against Hong Myung-bo's sharp attack on the day.

"It was a physically fierce match," Alfaro said in a post-match press conference. In the first half, he had not fully recovered physically since the match against Japan. We should have played more intensely in the midfield. The scene of the first loss leaves a regret. It is also regrettable that he failed to take advantage of several opportunities afterwards. In the second half, I tried to raise the line and make up for my mistakes. There was a chance in the Korean camp, and we tried to save it, but we got a disappointing result." Alfaro, who lost for the second time after taking over to Paraguay in August last year, said "It was a very different match than then. I had a lot of chances offensively. We need to analyze today's game, but there's a feeling that it wasn't enough in terms of efficiency." Asked to compare the three-backs between Korea and Japan, "The two teams are structurally similar, but their detailed characteristics are different. South Korea uses wing-backs a lot, but Japan was more aggressive", he pointed out. It was also impressive that Japan had three players going out as triangles or playing as pentagons in midfield, but Korea showed the characteristics of developing from the side to the center. The two teams were similar, but the attack characteristics were different. "South Korea showed more organic movements centered on midfield than Japan. Both forms will be sufficiently competitive in the World Cup." At the same time, he ended with a pep talk saying, `I hope Korea will do well in the finals.'








This article was translated by Naver AI translator.