The national soccer team was again attacked in the half space. Half space refers to the space between the sides and the center when the football field is divided into 5 vertically. Following coach Paulo Bento, there are concerns that coach Jurgen Klinsmann may not be able to solve the problem of the half space in the Korean defense.
The national team, led by coach Klinsman, lost 0-1 in an evaluation match against Peru held at Busan Asiad Main Stadium on the 16th.먹튀검증
In the scene of conceding, Korea was attacked in the half space. Defensive midfielder Won Doo-jae rushed to put pressure on the ball, but was broken through by an opponent’s pass. Then, central defender Jeong Seung-hyeon followed and pressed to fill the space, but Paolo Guerrero and his colleague’s wall pass pierced the ball. As a result, Park Ji-soo and Ahn Hyun-beom rushed to the center to fill the space.
The 39-year-old veteran did not miss the space created by South Korea’s poor forward pressure. Guerrero threw a kill pass to Brian Reina, who was in the opposite half space, and Reina easily scored the goal with a left-footed shot.
The problem is that the Korean national soccer team is repeatedly being attacked by the half space. The opponent sees through the Korean defense’s half-space defense weakness and is concentrating on attacking it.
The problem started before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. On September 23 last year, during the evaluation match against Costa Rica, Bennett, who penetrated the half space in the 40th minute of the first half, could not block it and allowed the opening goal. In the 19th minute of the second half, Costa Rica’s attack through the half space easily penetrated and allowed a goal.
Even in the Qatar World Cup finals, the half-space defense was a problem. On December 3 last year, when Jin-su Kim broke through to Diogo Dalot in the 5th minute of the first half in Portugal in the third group match, Ricardo Horta penetrated into the half space and could not be stopped. Horta received Dalot’s cutback pass and easily shook the net.
The match against Brazil in the round of 16 of the Qatar World Cup was the culmination of the half-space problem. All four goals conceded came from half-space defensive problems.
In the 7th minute of the first half, Rafinha, who broke through the half space, sent a grounder cross to Vinicius, who was in the opposite half space, and Vinicius scored without interfering with the defense. The starting point of Hischarlisson’s goal in the 28th minute of the first half was also the half space. Even in the 4th conceded scene, Neymar and Vinicius easily penetrated into the half space and scored Paqueta’s goal.
Brian Reina of Peru shoots during the game between Korea and Peru during the Hana Bank invitation football team evaluation match held at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium in Yeonje-gu, Busan on the afternoon of the 16th. 2023.06.16. jhope@newsis.com
Even after Klinsman took over the helm, the problem was not fixed.
In the match against Colombia on March 24, Klinsman’s debut match, he failed to block Baloyes, who penetrated into the half space in the first minute of the second half, and as a result, he gave up a goal to the rushing James Rodriguez.
Following the Colombia game, he was attacked in a similar way in this Peru game, and improving the half-space defense emerged as coach Klinsman’s task.
For the half-space defense, it is important to link and breathe between the central and side defenses. There is a side that has been revealed through consecutive goals that there is a problem with cooperation and breathing between the existing central defense (Kim Min-jae and Kim Young-kwon) and the side defense (Kim Jin-soo and Kim Moon-hwan, etc.).
There is also a side that lacks the help of midfielders and side strikers to prevent the opponent’s half-space penetration in advance. The fact that the half-space defense becomes more lax at a time when the overall team’s stamina and concentration is low shows that there is a problem with the midfielder and the side striker joining the defense.
In order for coach Klinsman to achieve his goal of winning the Asian Cup in Qatar next January, it is urgent to solve this problem. A solid defense is essential to achieve good results in international competitions.
With Kim Min-jae’s basic military training and Kim Young-kwon’s injury reducing the chance to solve the half-space defense problem during the June A-match, attention is focusing on whether coach Klinsman can come up with a solution before the Asian Cup.