South Korea manager Cho Kwang-rae said he is planning on exposing Sasa Ognenovski’s lack of pace when they face Australia at the Asian Cup.
The Australian centre-back played in the K-League for Seongnam Ilhwa when Cho was in charge of Gyeongnam in 2009.
Cho believes the towering defender lacks a turn of foot and will play speedy attackers to outrun the 31-year-old.
“When it comes to the mobility of the players, our strikers are bit better than the Australian central defence,” Cho said.
“When it comes to Sasa’s case, I was in charge of Gyeongnam (from 2007 to 2010), one of the clubs in Korea, and I intentionally put fast forwards to make it difficult for Sasa.”
“In these games I learnt that Sasa had problems with quick forwards and I could make use of it.”
Cho said he was not concerned about the form of midfielder Tim Cahill, who showed his versatility with goals via both foot and head in Australia’s 4-0 win over India.
Cho said he had enough defensive talents to nullify the influence of the Everton star, despite the suspension of Kwak Tae-Hwi from their 2-1 win over Bahrain.
“We know that he (Cahill) is good in the air and even though we miss one starting defender from the previous game, we have good players who can cover the position,” Cho said.
“When it comes to individual duels in the air, we are quite sure we can cope with it.”
South Korea take on Australia on Friday at Al Gharafa Stadium.
Wed 12 January, 2011