Friday night saw a battling 1-1 performance against Australia, the team ranked as the best of the Asian Football Confederation. Once again, Koo scored the opening goal ― the 21-year-old is making quite a name for himself ― but the Socceroos hit back in the second half after a goalkeeping error from Jung Sung-ryong.

It was an unfortunate mistake by the Seongnam shot-stopper. He came off his line to punch a Lucas Neill center clear but failed to get there leaving Mile Jedinak to head the ball into an empty net. Both teams had chances to win the match but both will be satisfied with a point.

Now India lies ahead. The Bhangra Boys are already resigned to a defeat. Talking to Bob Houghton, the English coach of the South Asian team, prior to the tournament, he was honest and open about the team’s chances. As a number of the Indian players are Manchester United fans, I asked him if they were excited to face Park Ji-sung.

“It doesn’t matter,” Houghton said. “I don’t think it makes that much difference if he plays or not. He’s a great player but Korea is not going to need him against us. It depends on how you see the Asian Cup. If you see it as an opportunity to see India playing against the very best to raise the level of Indian football, which is not that high, or are you worried about the results?”

Houghton, who has worked all over the world, is a fan of soccer in the Land of the Morning Calm.

“Korean soccer is the role model that Indian football has to follow. What they have done is phenomenal. The J- and K-League came out of nothing and produced a good strong league and exported players. Their teams have been international successfully and have been qualifying for World Cups. Korea has qualified for what? Seven in a row? That’s fantastic and the country has also hosted a great World Cup. It has been fantastic.”

The only question is, surely, not if Korea will win but by how many. That will be the determining factor as to whether the team finishes first or second in the group. Australia currently is in pole position due to a 4-0 win over India, who then lost 5-2 to Bahrain. Cho is looking for goals against the South Asians.

“We have many good players who can score goals,” said Cho. “It would be much better if we could score more goals but as we look ahead to the next game, I believe we can be better,” he added.

At the moment, a quarterfinal match against either Iraq or Iran is on the cards. History suggests Iran as the two teams have met at the same stage at the last four Asian tournaments with a record that stands all square with two wins each. But first comes what should be a very comfortable evening against India.

By John Duerden (johnduerden@hotmail.com)

(Contributing writer)