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On a high Socceroos bouncing along at Confederations Cup
SUWON, South Korea (AP) -- The Socceroos stunned themselves as much as anyone with a 1-0 win over world and European champion France, while South Korea also pulled off a major shocker with a 2-1 win over Mexico. So after two of the biggest international soccer upsets of 2001 occurred consecutively Friday, what will the next installment of the Confederations Cup produce Sunday when the two surprise victors meet? Australia coach Frank Farina said the Socceroos' win over France wasn't something he'd counted on, so the new plan is to let the squad relax, recover and regroup for Game 3 against South Korea. "I honestly thought it would come down to the last game against Korea," he said. "I thought we'd try to get a result against Mexico, we weren't counting on anything from the game against France, then try to get a result against Korea. "The confidence was there, but you can never go in against the World and European champions and be confident you're going to win, that's the reality of it." The Australians go into the final round of preliminaries at 2-0 and need only to tie with the tournament co-host at Suwon's World Cup Stadium to guarantee No. 1 spot in Group A and a semifinals berth. South Korea, which stormed back into finals calculations with a last-minute triumph over defending champion Mexico, needs to win and hope the French lose or draw against the Mexicans to get into the semis France is 1-1, while Mexico is 0-2 and only a mathematical chance of reaching the next round. France and Mexico play Sunday at Ulsan. "We've got a lot of respect for the South Koreans," Farina said. "We have played them many times over the years. They are a great footballing nation." South Korea is 3-1-1 against Australia in head-to-heads since 1992 and has an 8-4 lead in goals for and against. The host nation was heavily criticized for being timid and overawed by the French in a 5-0 loss at Daegu in the tournament opener last Wednesday, but the Mexico match was a complete reversal. The Koreans went out aggressively, dominating possession and territory and firing more shots on goal. When midfielder Yoo Sang-chul headed home the clincher in the 90th minute, the 44,000-strong crowd at Ulsan's Munsu Stadium went wild. Still on a high, both South Korea and Australia had light training runs Saturday at the national soccer headquarters at Misari near Seoul. Guus Hiddink, the South Korea head coach, said his squad had "learned how to be tougher." Hiddink wasn't predicting the outcome against the Aussies, but said he expected South Korea to make further strides in its 2002 World Cup preparation. "Don't underestimate the Australians," he said. "They are a very good team -- all the players play in good leagues all over the world. They are physically very strong and technically very sound." Hiddink said against the power of France, the Koreans weren't capable of fighting back after going down 2-0 after 20 minutes. But against Australia, No. 68 in the FIFA world ranking, he said his team would fight to the very end. "Knowing my players they will go to very end even if no qualification is possible." The Koreans lacked the polish to convert chances in the goal square in the first 45 minutes against Mexico but two second-half goals -- both off headers -- proved the team does contain some good finishers. "First it's important to create chances," Hiddink said. "Once we create chances, we'll work on the rest. The main thing is that we had four or five 100 percent chances (against Mexico) and scored twice." Farina said the Socceroos were "on another planet" during their win over the French, even if it was Roger Lemerre's B squad. "The most pleasing aspect of the game was the manner in which we played," Farina said. "We held our shape, we broke forward, and we closed everything down and they couldn't find a way through." Australia will be without Stan Lazaridis against South Korea after the winger picked up his second yellow card to earn an automatic one-match ban. Farina predicted more personnel changes in his starting lineup. "While it's not guaranteed, we're in a good position to go through to the next round," he said. "The most important thing is to get players recharged and ready to go for hopefully the semifinals." Clayton Zane, who swooped on a rebound to strike the winner in the 59th minute against France, could possibly get a rest and make room for Archie Thompson. Thompson scored 13 goals in Australia's 31-0 World Cup qualifying match against American Samoa earlier this year to set a record in soccer internationals.
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