On his side’s aspirations for the competition underway, South Korea head coach Seo Hyowon was honest in admitting that his boys would look for nothing less than lifting the coveted Cup. This would serve them in good stead for sterner battles ahead starting with the Asian Championship for the U-16 to be held in Vasco in September
BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
Vasco
South Korea colts were seen going through the grind at a training session at Tilak Maidan on Monday ahead of their first match in the AIFF Youth Cup (U-16) “ 2016 to be played here on Tuesday against Malaysia at 8 pm.
One thing was very clear, by watching the lads at full steam employ game situations under the
directives of their gaffer, Seo Hyowon that they were on their maiden trip here to settle nothing less
than the coveted trophy.
Post the one-and-a-half hour session which concluded with a bit of stretching and pep talk, the South Korean head coach Hyowon spoke to this writer.
A formidable team in the AFC Cup (U-16) and competitive on the biggest stage, interestingly their preparations for the aforementioned five-nation tourney was nothing but well short of international exposure and practice. “Before coming here, we had a training camp at home for ten days,” he revealed. Unlike certain other teams in competition, they have not had any international exposure trips or competitions this year till they came here. But if that could be a deterrent to their preparations here, being the last to play a game in the tourney that just got underway on May 15 could work to their advantage.
But the South Korean gaffer refused to subscribe to this theory. “I do not think so that it is an advantage to us because of the skills of each team is very tight and every two days we play a game, five games in ten days is the hardest,” Hyowon affirmed.
While admitting he watched both the games on the opening day between Tanzania and USA and India and Malaysia respectively, both of which ended in draws, he refuted to state if they studied footage of both games. But he did concede that all the four teams had good quality about themselves and is positive that his side would prepare well and come up with good performances to win games.
Assessing the four teams on their first match, he stated that Malaysia in their match versus India lacked in physicality which was particularly noticeable in the second half where their energy levels were found wanting. On the other hand, the hosts whom they played were full of energy and were especially good in the second half.
He was particularly impressed by the Indian youth team’s skills. On the latter game between USA and Tanzania, he believed the American side had a physical problem that affected their game. He felt jet-lag and time zone differences between USA and India was a reason, but was quick to add that they are a good team and will come into their own soon.
On the Tanzanian side, he thought that they reveled on team spirit. On his team’s philosophy, he stated that they work together and that his players train hard in their endeavor to improve their own skills.
On his side’s aspirations for the competition underway, he is honest to admit that they would look for nothing less than lifting the coveted Cup. This would serve them in good stead for sterner battles ahead starting with the Asian Championship for the U-16 to be held here in September, he added to say before signing off.
