Uruguay and South Korea eye World Cup glory

PORT ELIZABETH - Asia’s most successful footballing nation, South Korea, faces off against Uruguay, a potentially resurgent powerhouse of South America, with both teams aware that a victory Saturday will give them a good shot at making it through to the World Cup semifinals.

Manchester United midfielder Park Ji Sung has insisted he is looking no further than the clash with Uruguay at Port Elizabeth.

“We’re just thinking about the next game, we don’t want to think about the game after that. Our goal was the last 16, so now we just focus on every single game coming up and treat it as the final,” he told the Daily Yomiuri.

But millions of his countrymen are well aware that the winner of the game will then have the prospect of beating the winner of the clash between the United States and Ghana to make it through to the last four. While neither of those teams will be a pushover, they are certainly likely to be less of a challenge than many of the other squads that remain in contention.

But the Taegeuk Warriors will have to end a five-match winless streak against Uruguay if they wish to have a chance of reaching the semi-final for the second time in their eight World Cup appearances - a record for an Asian nation.

The last time they reached that stage was in 2002 when it hosted the tournament with Japan. But this time it has some other advantages in its favour. The Warriors have blended their traditionally strong passing and movement with a technical ability on the ball, that along with Japan have them the tournament’s most successful free-kick specialists.

“I think it will be a 50-50 situation,” said coach Huh Jung Moo, who stressed that his team’s ability is now “a little bit closer” to the top of global football.

It’s not likely to be easy to score against Uruguay, a tight, defensive side with efficient strikers, which is ranked 14th in the world, compared to South Korea’s 47th.

The Uruguay team also has a proud tradition, having won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950. With a population of only 4 million it is the smallest country ever to win the trophy, and after decades in the shadows of their larger South American rivals La Celeste finally feel it’s their turn to retake the limelight. They topped their group with seven points out of nine and are yet to concede a single goal.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez is certainly aware of the challenges and opportunities that await his men.

“Of course we’ve analyzed all the possibilities for us,” he said. “I think so far in this phase we’ve showed that we are a tough team to tackle for the others. We are trying to do what we had exactly in mind before the tournament. Now I don’t think we’ve achieved that yet, but Uruguay is now a difficult opponent for anybody.”

Most of the focus has been on star strikers Diego Forlan, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez. But the foundation of the team rests on the shoulders of captain Diego Lugano, who is the bedrock of their defensive stability.

“I don’t think we have achieved all we want yet,” Tabarez said. “This is an excellent squad, there is cohesion and friendship among the players and they are really dedicated to the job they are doing.”