Socceroos 1 – 3 South Korea

South Korea delivered a crushing blow to the Socceroos and took out the unofficial title of the best team in Asia with a deserved 3-1 victory in Seoul overnight. Having been on a magical run of quality results, including qualification for the World Cup followed by victories over Japan and Ireland, the Socceroos were brought down to earth by the their own defensive blunders as well as the silky skills of Manchester United’s Park Ji Sung.

With injuries to key players, Pim Verbeek fielded a team which combined experience with youth, with an eye on giving his fringe players more international experience. Mark Schwarzer again stood between the sticks, and with Lucas Neill’s absence took over the captaincy. He was protected by a back four of Shane Stefanutto, Jade North, Mark Milligan and Patrick Kisnorbo. Despite playing both Scotty McDonald and Josh Kennedy, Pim stuck with his preferred 4-5-1 formation, meaning that Macca was a part of the midfield quintet comprising of himself, Vinnie Grella, Jason Culina, Brett Holman and Mark Bresciano. As mentioned, Kennedy led the line.

In front of a boisterous crowd of twenty odd thousand, Socceroos were the first to falter as an early mistake gave the home side the lead within the opening five minutes. Perhaps not the best advertisement for the A-League, but the only two domestic based players in the side combined to put the Green and Gold on the back foot. Culina’s poor pass was placed behind Stefanutto, and the left back’s subsequent off-balanced back pass was short, giving the ball squarely to Lee Chung-Yong on the right flank. A quick break by prolific youngster Park Chu-Young gave him the angle to slot his shot across Schwarzer and draw first blood.

With the Socceroos stunned, the Korean’s second goal arrive fifteen minutes later, when an innocuous free kick to the back post resulted in a ball played across goal, which was turned in at the near post by Lee Jung-Soo.

With Australia needing inspiration, and more importantly a goal before half time, the expertise of Bresciano’s free kicks duly delivered. An in-swinging and dipping effort, which took the keeper out of the equation, was nicely met by Patrick Kisnorbo to give the Socceroos a lifeline.

An improved performance in the second half resulted in no fruition, despite long range efforts by Bresciano and Stefanutto which drew nive saves from Lee Woon-Jae. Late in the game a lose ball from midfield, this time by Grella, gave the Koreans another opportunity which they took with aplomb. An interception by Park allowed him to run down the left flank, before delivering a delightful ball for Seoul Ki-Hyeon to nod home despite Schwarzer’s best efforts.

It was a disappointing result, it’s never good to lose. However, the Socceroos can take solace in the fact that most of their key players were missing. The team work and the work rate of the Koreans was the main difference tonight, and if there are positives to take from this match it’s that this is the perfect kick up the butt we needed. A lot had been made about our rise in international football in the recent years, so a loss like this is a nice little wake up call to remind us that while we are improving, there is still a long way to go before we can even be considered as a World Cup quality side.