South Korea will book their place in the last 8 of the Asian Cup with a win over India today.
Ki Sung Yeung’s side are rated 100 places above the Indians in the FIFA rankings and need just a point to go through to the next stage.
The real battle today is in terms of goal difference between Australia and the Koreans with the group winners likely to face Iraq in the knock out phase with the runners up meeting Iran for a semi final place.
Australia hold the edge going into the final matches with a goal difference of +3 compared to +1 for South Korea but the Australian’s will have a tougher test against Bahrain than India are likely to muster against Korea. An unlikely win for Bahrain would knock-out the Australians.
Despite knowing that supporters will be keeping an eye on both matches Korean coach Cho Kwang-Rae is determined to ensure that his players focus fully on the task of beating India.
He said: “We will prepare for the game against India almost the same as for the game against Bahrain (a 2-1 win for South Korea).
“I’m quite sure that Austalia are just as desperate to be number one in the group but if we focus too much on scoring lots of goals, it will cause problems.
“One thing that is quite important is that we should not underestimate India. That is the most dangerous thing we could do.
“I will ask the players to play as they usually do — pressure from the attacking third, not give them a chance to play the ball and play our own game.”
Cha Du-Ri and Ki have been important members of the Korean team with Ki playing in a mainly holding midfield role.
The Celtic midfielder is tipped to be one of the stars of the tournament but puts personal glory on the back burner for the good of his team.
“The coach keeps asking us to play the ball quickly by controlling the ball quickly and moving it on,” Ki said,
“By doing this we are able to take control of games. In that aspect we have improved a lot, but we can’t just be satisfied by our previous results.
“As the tournament goes on, we have to control certain situations better and we need to improve that aspect a lot.”
Assuming that South Korea qualify they will play their quarter final match on Saturday.
Stokes delighted by Hooper’s return
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
