Korea 1:0 Greece - Korea Edges Greece in London Friendly

Sean O'Conor

Lee Chun Soo's 78th minute free kick goal gave South Korea victory over Greece in front of a fervent crowd at Craven Cottage, London on Tuesday, 2nd February.

Korean expats, many hailing from their suburban enclave in New Malden, outnumbered their Greek counterparts, who had made the trip across the capital from the Hellenic North London neighbourhoods, by about 2-1 in Fulham's riverside stadium.

The sea of red, white and blue, full of jovial fan fervour, became especially excited whenever one of the trio of Asian Premiership Tigers – Seol Ki-Hyeon of Reading, Lee Young-Pyo of Tottenham and Manchester United's Park Ji-Sung, got hold of the ball.

Lee's goal brought back memories of his stunning set piece strike in Korea's 2-1 victory over Togo at last summer's World Cup finals and gave his country a narrowly-deserved win over the European Champions.

Ulsan midfielder Lee readied the fans by jogging on the spot for a few seconds before bending an unstoppable curler over the Greek wall and into the top left hand corner to leave Benfica goalkeeper Constantinos Chalkias with no chance.

On a chilly evening by the Thames, the distinctive styles of these two sides were again in evidence – Greece limited but tightly organised, condensing the areas of play and putting their stock in set pieces and tall crosses, while Korea brimmed with running energy in all zones of the field and relied on close skills instead of brawn and percentages.

It was Greece who notched the first effort on the board when Manchester City's rangy striker Georgios Samaras flashed a shot across goal in the fourth minute.

The game quickly became a lively and committed contest with the teams looking well matched despite their differing styles, and it took until the 32nd minute before a goalkeeper had to make a save, Antonios Nikopolidis punching Lee's inswinging set piece from out his goalmouth.

Two minutes later, Nikopolidis' opposite number Kim Yong-Dae performed a similar feat from Angelos Basinas.

Samaras' power and pace briefly became a thorn in Korea's right flank and in the 35th he charged menacingly past right back Oh Beom Seok but lost his balance and fired a yard wide, to the relief of the ‘Taeguk Warriors' who had let him pass.

A minute later Korea were under pressure again when Kim spilled an Angelos Charisteas shot in the six-yard box and Theofoanis Gekas slid in.

Having failed to clear the danger first time around, Kim, who keeps goal for K-League champions Seongnam, redeemed himself with a crucial block.

The Reds retaliated and once more Lee was the instigator, swinging a perfect cross into the onrushing Park, who thumped his header downward onto the foot of the post and away, Nikopolidis rooted to the spot.

Before the half was up, Lee, who plays his football for Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i in Korea, again threatened a goal, combining silkily with Cho Jae Jin on the left wing and whipped a cross-cum-shot just wide of the Greek goal frame.

Otto Rehhagel, who is entering his seventh year in charge of ‘The Pirate Ship', as the Greek national team is dubbed, made five changes at the interval, most decisively by replacing Samaras, who had picked up a booking for an elbows-first leap seconds before the break, with the wily Stelios Giannokopoulos.

The Bolton Wanderers schemer had a sudden impact, enlivening the attack of a team who had looked anything other than reigning European champions, and he struck the woodwork himself in the 50th minute when he headed Ioannis Amanitidis' centre onto the crossbar.

Six minutes later Greece created momentary havoc as Kim denied Amanatidis from close range following a penalty box scramble.

Lee Young-Pyo and Park had monopolized the cheers of the numerous Korean fans but the third Premiership tiger, Seol, had yet to make an impact on the evening's proceedings.

All that changed in the 73rd when the Reading raider beat his marker Loukas Vyntra on the right and infiltrated the area, only to let his unmarked teammate Cho down by sending his cross in too close to Chalkias, who had replaced Nikopolidis at the interval.

When Lee struck the Greek net with 12 minutes remaining, it seemed like Greece's second half endeavour had all been for nothing and that Korea had escaped punishment for playing unusually deep, inviting territorial loss.

It had actually been a very even contest all things considered, Korea having the lion's, or should that be the tiger's, share of play in the first period and the Europeans the better of the second. Until the goal in the 78th minute, the match seemed likely to end without goals.

Georgios Karagounis, Greece's deep linchpin was their most influential player on the night, setting up several attacks and breaking up several enemy raids, and the Benfica man tested Kim in the Korean goal with a chest and volley snapshot in the 82nd.

Karagounis set up Charisteas in the closing seconds of normal time, but the Feyenoord marksman drilled his effort a yard wide of the upright.

Thanks to a group of Greek political protesters who managed to invade the field with banners before the whistle, an inordinate amount of added on time ensued, during which Stelios netted but was flagged offside, and the night belonged to Korea.

"It was like an away game for us, Rehhagel told reporters afterwards referring to the Korean fan show,"but we had chances to win the game."

"It was a fantastic audience," his opposite number Pim Verbeek confirmed.

"I think it was a tough match," he explained,"very physical and many duels not only for our defence because they played a lot of long balls but also for the midfield. I think the boys did a very good job.

"We were lucky especially at the start of the second half," the Korea coach went on.

"They had to fight from the first to the last second and it was a long game. It was good to see some new players coming into the team – (Kim) Chi Woo the left back and (Oh) Beom Seok the right back."

On the star of the evening Lee Chun Soo, who had a move to Wigan break down recently, Verbeek added,
"Beside the goal, I thought he played a very good game as a more or less shadow striker – he is originally more a winger. I think he wanted to show everybody he is a good player."

South Korea are looking ahead to their Asian Cup challenge in July when they will be eager to improve on their 2004 showing, when Iran knocked out the 2002 World Cup semifinalists 4-3 in the Quarter Final.

The Asian Cup, the AFC's regional nations' tournament, takes place from the 1st until the 29th of July in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

"We still have four months to go to the start of the Asian Cup," said Verbeek.

"I think Korea is one of the top teams in Asia so you always have to go to win that type of tournament but we only have two games of preparation – now and the 24th of March and the next in four months' time."

Japan are the reigning champions but will have their title defence challenged additionally this year by the presence of Australia, who left Oceania for Asia in January 2006 in frustration at their confederation's lack of an automatic place in the World Cup Finals.

Greece, having flopped massively at 2005's Confederations Cup and finished an embarrassing fourth in their 2006 World Cup qualifying group, have made a healthy start to their 2008 title defence, with three wins out of three in European Group C, over Bosnia, Malta and Norway.

Otto Rehhagel's men next tackle neighbours and ancient rivals Turkey in Piraeus on the 24th of March.

Sean O'Conor

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