South Korea to get ´homework´ after Ivory Coast win

South Korea’s reward for beating Ivory Coast 2-0 in a friendly international at Loftus Road here on Wednesday was to be promised more “homework” by coach Huh Jung-moo ahead of the World Cup finals.

An early goal from Lee Dong-gook and substitute Kwak Tae-hwi’s 90th minute effort gave South Korea victory against an Ivory Coast side without a full-time manager after Bosnia’s Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked last week following the side’s African Nations Cup quarter-final loss.

Guus Hiddink remains the favourite to take over but the presence of former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson in the crowd at Loftus Road, the home of second division side Queens Park Rangers, saw the Swede linked to the vacancy with the Elephants

“We played very well and it is a good win for us but there is a lot of work still to do before the World Cup,” said Huh, whose side have been drawn against Argentina, Greece and Nigeria in South Africa in June.

“We are not meeting again until May now but I will give the players homework to do on our opponents.

“I want them to study videos of the teams we shall be playing as they all need to improve before we go to South Africa.

“The players who play in Europe lead this team and you saw that out there.

“They have more experience and quality but we attack and defend as a team and we deserved to win.”

Under Hiddink, South Korea somewhat controversially reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2002 when they co-hosted the tournament with Japan.

And while few expect them to reach the last four in South Africa, this performance suggested they could yet qualify out of Group B.

Huh added: “This game was excellent practice for us before the World Cup.

“We have to play Nigeria and while their style is not exactly the same, Ivory Coast are another African team and it was important for us to come up against a team like that before we go to South Africa.

“Ivory Coast played well and caused us a lot of problems but we adapted well. Of course it will be tough for us in the World Cup but we have confidence that we can perform and are looking forward to the challenge.”

Ivory Coast acting coach Kouadio Georges did not speak to reporters after the match.