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International Friendly Preview: South Korea V England
South Korea - England | News Archive

Owen will be risked (Allsport)
05/20/2002. BACKGROUND

South Korea face England on Tuesday morning in Seogwipo in what is Sven Goran Eriksson's sides first match since they set up camp in the Far East. The England players enjoyed a relaxing week in a luxury hotel complex in Dubai before travelling to South Korea where they will play their three group matches. The first of these is against Sweden in less than two-weeks so the time for experimentation is over. However injuries will mean Eriksson is unable to field his first Choice eleven yet again so if nothing else this friendly will give the squad a chance to acclimatise to the conditions.

The Co-hosts for the World Cup still have a friendly against France to play before they face United States, Poland and Portugal in the finals themselves.

TEAM FORM

Guus Hiddink's side are proving to be a difficult team to beat and a difficult team to break down. Their 4-1 win against Scotland on Thursday was the first time they had conceded a goal in their last five internationals. The margin of the win was put down to the poor performance by Scotland but Korea deserve credit for a display that showed they are a long way from being a minnow of World football. All four goals were taken with real class and were backed up by a strong defensive performance that has kept out China, Costa Rica, Turkey, Tunisia and Finland, although only Finland and Costa Rica were beaten.

England ended a four match winless run with a 4-0 win against Paraguay last month. It followed defeats to Italy and Holland and a draw against Sweden in friendlies and a draw against Greece in the final World Cup qualifier.

TEAM NEWS

England are without Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville after injury wrecked their World Cup dreams, while Kieron Dyer is still uncertain of making the squad as he battles to prove his fitness. David Beckham and Nicky Butt both look set to play some part in Sunday's friendly against Cameroon, but are unavailable for tomorrow's match. While Martin Keown, Sol Campbell and Robbie Fowler are all doubts after they have had difficulties training in the past week.

Despite the seeming injury jinx Eriksson has vowed to field his strongest available XI for this friendly, while Michael Owen, England's captain in the absence of Beckham, has refused to treat this match any differently despite the risk.

POSSIBLE LINE UPS

South Korea: Lee Won-jae; Kim Tae-Young, Hong Myung-Bo, Choi Jin-jul; Lee Eul-yong, Lee Young-pyo, Kim Nam-il, Song Chong-gug; Ahn Jung-hwan; Seol Ki-hyeon, Choi Young-soo.

England: David Seaman; Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Wes Brown; Owen Hargreaves, Danny Murphy, Paul Scholes, Joe Cole; Emile Heskey, Michael Owen.

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Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Co-hosts provide a wake-up call
Michael Hart

South Korea 1 - 1 England

Michael Owen beats Yong-Pyo Lee to the ball to scramble home the opener
(Allsport)
England were held to a 1-1 draw in their penultimate World Cup warm-up game despite being given a flying start by Michael Owen.

The England captain scored after only 26 minutes in the friendly against South Korea but the home team hit back with a goal from Ji-Sung Park on 52 minutes following seven half-time substitutions from Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Emile Heskey's short pass gave Paul Scholes a yard of space inside the penalty area and though goalkeeper Woon-Jae Lee flew out to block the Manchester United man's effort, the rebound skewed sideways and Owen pounced ahead of Young-Pyo Lee to bundle the ball home.

It was the 16th international goal for the England captain, who scored on his debut as stand-in skipper for David Beckham in England's 4-0 victory over Paraguay in a friendly on his home pitch of Anfield last month.

In 11 games under England coach Eriksson, Owen has scored eight goals, compared to four goals in 12 internationals for Glenn Hoddle, no goals in one game under Howard Wilkinson and four goals in earning 11 caps under Kevin Keegan.

Eriksson opted for a 4-3-3 system as predicted with Darius Vassell, who had scored on his previous two starts for England, given the chance to stake a claim alongside Heskey and Owen.

Leeds United full-back Danny Mills appears to be winning the race to be in the England team for their opening World Cup clash with Sweden when he started in Seogwipo this morning. Mills got the nod ahead of Wes Brown.

Eriksson made seven changes at the break and also switched Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves into the centre of midfield in a revised 4-4-2 formation. Mills, Vassell and Heskey were the only other men not to be withdrawn.

It meant Trevor Sinclair had a chance to impress just hours before he would learn whether he was set to fly home before the tournament had even begun.

Owen, Nigel Martyn, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Scholes and Danny Murphy were the men replaced after 45 minutes.

Mills conceded another corner when Lee Young-pyo launched a left-wing attacking raid but again England cleared easily.

Korea made little of their next corner either, but when they were awarded yet another, this time on the right, it brought them an equaliser when Yet Choi outjumped Martin Keown to flick on Lee Chun-Soo's outswinger, then Park Ji-Sung sent the ball flying past David James after he had evaded Teddy Sheringham's weak challenge.

In the first 45 minutes, Martyn hadn't been given much to do but he was called into action when the defence gave Hong Myung-Bo too much room and his 35-yard effort moved alarmingly in the air, forcing-Martyn to make a fingertip save.

But following their equaliser, the home side put England on the rack for a nervous five-minute period. England slowly regained their composure, with Joe Cole starting to establish himself.

Lee Chun-Soo fired wide as the home side countered and midway through the half, Mills was replaced by Brown.

The Koreans were not afraid to let fly from long distance and Kim Nam-il was the next to try his luck, failing to trouble James from almost 40 yards. England's best effort came from a header from Vassell from a Sinclair free-kick.

At the final whistle, Eriksson was heading straight from the stadium to the team's base in Jeju where he was finalising his 23-man squad for the tournament.

Eriksson, whose side start against Sweden on 2 June, must decide whether to name Kieron Dyer in the squad. A question mark remains over the Newcastle player's fitness as he is struggling to recover from a knee ligament injury.

South Korea: Woon-Jae Lee, Song, Hong, Jin-Cheul Choi, Nam-Il Kim (Min-Sung Lee 90), Tae-Uk Choi (Cha 76), Yong-Pyo Lee, Yoo, Park, Seol (Ahn 56), Chun-Soo Lee.

Subs Not Used: Byung-Ji Kim, Yong-Soo Choi, Eul-Young Lee, Sung-Young Choi, Hyun, Yun, En-Sung Choi, Hwang, Tae-Young Kim.

England: Martyn (James 46), Mills (Brown 68), Ferdinand (Keown 46), Campbell (Southgate 46), Ashley Cole (Bridge 46), Hargreaves, Scholes (Sinclair 46), Murphy (Joe Cole 46), Owen (Sheringham 46), Heskey, Vassell.

Sub Not Used: Seaman.

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