"Dark Horses" DPR Korea to test quality against US in Group of Death opener
10/9/2007 16:21
DPR Korea, dubbed as "dark horses" of Group B, will have their
youngster-packed squad tested, fighting against twice winners the United States
in the 2007 China World Cup in Chengdu , Southwest China today.
The opener
therefore came into the spotlight as three points will be crucial for each in
the arguably Group of Death, which copied the same four teams as four years
ago.
The United States won both of their encounters 3-0, in World Cup 2003
and 1999 respectively.
Arriving here with an apparent sense of revenge,
though skipper Ri Kum Suk just nodded on it without any words, the Koreans pose
the genuine contenders for the game's pre-tournament favorites.
Some joked
that the sense of mystery surrounding the team from DPR Korea was the aspect
that has stayed utterly unchanged in the quick-paced women's soccer world.
That's true.
During their four-day stay here after the arrival on Thursday,
Kim Kwang Min's team opened no more than half an hour trainings to the media and
coaches and players said just some ten sentences all together.
It's nothing
about they being the tournament's outsiders, but in addition to a FIFA world
ranking as the fifth-best side, the Korean team has successfully, though maybe
not intendedly, made themselves more difficult rivals.
With a handful of
players from the U-20 world champion side, the much-younger-looking Korean team
comes with their trademark speed, stamina and physical strength, coupled with a
trademark never-say-die spirit.
DPR Korean talisman Ri Kum Suk, recently
named alongside Brazil's Marta and Germany's Birgit Prinz as the world's best
female footballers by head coaches of Australia and the US, is still counted on,
while six of her teammates had been promoted from the squad which had swooped to
win the U-20 world title last year in Russia.
The same squad were crowned at
the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar last December, as well as doing well in the World
Cup advance and are currently on top of the qualifying group for the 2008
Olympic Games.
US coach Greg Ryan lauded the Koreans as "a great team". "It
will be a pivotal game in our group," said Ryan. "They have been the best team
in Asia for the past few years."
Averaging a young squad, however, could be
the shortest for DPR Korea, especially when they face the experienced US led by
36-year-old Kristine Lilly, the only five-time World Cup veteran in this
tournament who's still fit in.
With around 120 goals in her over 300
international caps, Lilly is still the leading striker of the United States. But
the most frightful factor of the team is that Lilly is not the only competitive
player.
She gets strong support from a new generation of talents up front,
with battering ram Abby Wambach, who now has an astonishing goals-to-games ratio
for the United States, and midfielder Shannon Boxx, just back from injury, is
the ball winner in the side.
All the factors lead to a fierce fight between
two aggressive attack sides on Tuesday, starting 1700 local time, and the result
may set the tone of the group, hinting a tradition holding on or a surprising
burst.
Xinhua
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