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Huh? China encouraged after cup loss; S. Korea coach in doubt
Updated: Friday October 27, 2000 12:10 PM
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- China and South Korea came out of the Asian Cup semifinals as the losing sides, yet China can feel encouraged by its narrow loss to Japan, the flashiest side of the 12-nation tournament. Although it reached the last four, South Korea's performances fell short of expectations and the future of coach Huh Jung-moo could be in doubt. "I don't want to think about it at this moment," Huh said after his team's 2-1 loss to defending champion Saudi Arabia in Thursday's semifinals. "But whatever the decision is, I will accept it." "There has already been too much talk about this. I don't want to think about it or care about it for now," said the former PSV Eindhoven midfielder. Huh, in the job since September 1998, already handed in his resignation after South Korea failed to advance from group stage at last month's Olympics, but it was rejected by federation officials and he was told to continue. South Korea won the first two editions of the tournament in 1956 and 1960 but has not been in the final since 1988. "There was a lack of mental readiness on our side," Huh said of the match against Saudi Arabia. "We couldn't convert some of our chances and I am sorry that we lost." "From the start the players were anxious and jumpy. I told them to calm down and play our own game but after the first goal they were not able to regain their composure and shortly afterward the second goal followed," Huh said. Saudi striker Talal al-Mashal scored twice inside four minutes late in the game to pace the defending champion. Striker Lee Dong-gook got his fifth goal of the tournament in injury time for South Korea. Before Sunday's final between Japan and Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea will play for third place. China was runner-up to Saudi Arabia in 1984 and that remains its best result at a major tournament. The huge nation has never qualified for World Cup finals. This could be changing soon. Guiding China's ambitious program to join the soccer elite is Bora Milutinovic, an experienced Yugoslav-born coach who has taken four different nations to World Cup finals, including the United States. Under Milutinovic, China has been playing with discipline and organization, relying on a strong defense and the finishing of forwards Su Maozhen and Yang Chen, who plays for Eintracht Frankfut in the Bundesliga. Even Japan's coach Philippe Troussier was full praise for the Chinese team: "We played very positive football, which was sometimes dangerous. China were well organized and waiting for us. China has quality players. They are good losers," he said. China's back four stifled the Japanese offense that had come into the semifinals outscoring opponents 17-4 and Japan's first score came off n own goal by Chinese defender Fan Zhiyi. China led 2-1 early in the second half before conceding two unanswered goals to go down 3-2. But China could have easily forced the game into extra tie and certainly gave Japan its toughest match of the tournament. "First of all I am unhappy to lose the game but I am very happy with the way we played," Milutinovic said after the match. "I think the fans were the winners as they saw the best game of the tournament." "Our biggest problem is our lack of international experience," Milutinovic said. "That is why it is so important that we play in this tournament. If you make mistakes it is important that you learn for them in order to make progress." "But if you don't play enough matches against bigger teams then qualifying for the World Cup could be difficult," he said. "We have top look at things positively even though we are not happy with the way things went against Japan. If we take third place it's excellent," Milutinovic said. China and South Korea met at the start of the tournament and drew 2-2. "All I am concentrating on is the next match and even though it's only the third place match, I will do my best to win," said South Korean coach Huh.
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