Huh warns South Korea not to be fazed by Argentina

South Korea coach Huh Jung-Moo has told his players to enjoy playing Argentina and not be intimidated when the two unbeaten sides meet in the World Cup on Thursday.

Huh insists his side, including Manchester United winger Park Ji-Sung and Bolton’s Lee Chung-Yong, have nothing to fear against the South American giants at Soccer City with a place in the last 16 at stake.

South Korea were impressive in their opening 2-0 win over Greece, while Argentina saw off Nigeria 1-0 in Group B last Saturday.

Huh played in the South Korea team which lost 3-1 to Argentina at the Mexico 1986 World Cup and picked up a yellow card as his side struggled to contain current Argentina coach Diego Maradona who went on to dominate the tournament.

Argentina eventually lifted the trophy, but Huh says that 24 years later, his side must stand tall against the South Americans and not be fazed by facing the likes of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

“I have told my players to enjoy playing Argentina, because when we played them at the 1986 World Cup, we were very intimdated by them in a lot of different ways,” said the 55-year-old.

“They were an unknown entity for us, the gulf in class was wide, but that that is not the same now. We have good players with experience of playing for top European sides.

“In my experience, if you are too intimidated and focused on the opposition, you can’t really reach your potential, which is why I told my players to enjoy the game.”

In the build-up to the match, Maradona has reopened a war-of-words by saying playing against South Korea in 1986 was ‘more like taekwondo than football’ and he has highlighted the need for fair-tackling from the South Koreans.

But Huh said his players are too experienced to resort to dangerous tackles and Belgian referee Frank de Bleeckere will not need to brandish yellow cards.

“It is up to the referee, but in 1986, when the national Korean team met Argentina at the World Cup, we didn’t have a lot of experience,” said Huh.

“But this team is very experienced and in Park and Chung we have players with good European teams who are used to playing at the highest level, so this is a totally different picture to 1986.”

Maradona is set to rest veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron as a precaution after the 35-year-old suffered from a knock.

Liverpool winger Maxi Rodriguez is set to replace him.

“Veron won’t be playing, but Maxi will and this is something we have prepared for, no matter who plays there won’t be much of a change as they are all good,” said Huh.

With political tensions between North and South Korea running high, Huh said he had watched television coverage of North Korea’s 2-1 defeat by Brazil on Tuesday in Group G and was impressed.

“Even though they lost, they (North Korea) played with a lot of confidence and did a good job,” he said.

“Of course by looking between the two teams, we thought about what would have happened if we had been in their shoes,” he said.

“We learned a lot from the game and we were inspired by their performance.”