Uruguay is strong but so are we: Park

PORT ELIZABETH - South Korea coach Huh Jung Moo Friday paid his respects to Uruguay’s stout defensive record in the World Cup, but said he was confident his players would manage to breach the Uruguayan goal Saturday for the first time in the tournament.

Huh was speaking a day before the two teams clash in Port Elizabeth in the first Round of 16 game, with the winner facing either Ghana or the United States in a bid to get to the semi-final.

“Uruguay has been very good in defence, but I am confident we can open the way to score goals,” said Huh.

Huh said the progression of both South Korea and Japan marked an important milestone for Asian teams who were having their greatest success ever on foreign soil.

“We are more of a partnership, competing together and growing together,” he said. “I think it would be most desirable if we both do well.”

He admitted that South Korea’s defence had been leaky, especially against Argentina, to whom they lost 1-4. “We do admit that we have let in lots of goals but we can make up for that by putting in two goals every time we lose a goal,” he said.

“We did lose against Argentina but I think it was a good opportunity to learn how to play against Latin American teams,” added South Korea captain Park Ji Sung. “It gave us some insight how to prepare against Uruguay and tomorrow we want to play differently than we did against Argentina.”

Park identified Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan as a major threat. “In the Spanish league he has had a good performance,” said Park. “He has proved himself in terms of his shooting, his passing and his power.”

Park said that the team was determined to prove that their 2002 semi-final appearance was not down solely to the fact that they were playing on home soil.

“We ourselves don’t have a clear conviction of how far we can go,” he said. “In 2002 we made it to the semi-finals and I don’t think it was just because it was at home,” he said. “This time we will prove that was not it.”

Park declined to compare the current team to the one that registered the greatest success ever of an Asian team in 2002. “I can’t now compare this team to the best team in our history,” he said. “But now we are improving so hopefully at end of the World Cup we can compare us to the previous team and we can say we are better.”