Korea Republic
The Keeper
One of the strongest units of the squad Lee Woon-Jae is one of the club’s best players and the clubs backup options are pretty solid players as well. Woon-Jae has over 120 caps in his career and he is a critical part of Korea’s success in South Africa. The keeper was also present last Cup in 2006 which saw the Koreans earn four points and narrowly miss advancing.
Grade: C
The Defense
Korea Republic’s defense is suspect at best this Cup and they will be tested by three pretty strong offenses in their group. At left back will be Dongjin Kim and Young Pyo Lee will play center back for the club. Those two men make up the stronger players on the back line and rest of the defense has very limited experience playing in international football matches although a few of them were on the squad four years back as well.
Grade: D+
The Midfield
Twenty eight year old winger Ji Sung Park of Manchester United is the unquestioned club leader and he also is Korea’s key offensive playmaker that will set up shots for the club’s attack. The rest of the midfield is fairly mediocre other then Teow Ki-hun, but Park is considered his club’s star and their only hope at advancing deep into the tournament.
Grade: C
The Forwards
Joo Young Park is the club’s best striker and it is debatable about who will start up top with him. The club has many roster question marks and rumors are that they might even try to land a European coach shortly before the start of the World Cup. JY Park though is a young player with a ton of potential who is looking to bounce back from a frustrating Cup in 2006.
Grade: D+
Overall
It’s always a hard thing to say that a club will not make it to the final 16 spots, but in Korea Republic’s case I would be surprised to see them survive. I think every other offense up top is much stronger then their defensive backline and sometimes it might get a little silly out there if they can’t contain all of Argentina’s stars. But it is the World Cup and you never do know what will happen especially with the Park boys out there and previous Cup runs made by Korea.
Grade: C –
