South Korea coach Dick Advocaat has been shaping his squad around fluid, adaptable play as the team prepares for its first World Cup group-stage match against Togo on 13 June 2006. Advocaat, a disciple of Dutch coaching legend Rinus Michels, is blending Korea's traditional work rate with the ball-movement principles associated with Dutch football.
The squad trained twice at Bayer Leverkusen's BayArena on Thursday. The morning session was closed to outside observers, allowing players to rehearse set pieces in secrecy. Advocaat confirmed afterward that the full squad was fit, including defenders Song Chong-Gug and Kim Jin-Kyu, midfielder Lee Ho, and winger Lee Chun-Soo, all of whom had sat out contact drills the previous day as a precaution.
A 3-1 friendly defeat to Ghana in Edinburgh on Sunday has raised expectations of pressure, though Advocaat defended the use of competitive warmup matches. Korea's group also includes France and Switzerland. Ten members of the current squad played in the 2002 tournament, when Guus Hiddink, another Michels protege, guided the country to the semifinals.
Advocaat set reaching the round of 16 as the team's baseline target, stating that qualification could come via either first or second place in the group.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.