South Korea vs Algeria: World Cup 2014 match preview
North Africans must overcome fear factor that cost them against Belgium
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Vahid Halihodzic hopes his that Algeria players can overcome the fear factor that he believes cost them a point in their opening Group H fixture against Belgium.
The Desert Foxes face South Korea in Porto Alegre today looking to make amends for conceding two goals in the final 20 minutes of their 2-1 loss to Belgium, and Halihodzic said it was important to learn from that painful experience.
“There was perhaps the fear of going for it and I saw players who won the ball and just stopping,” he said. “When you win the ball back, you have to carry on playing, attacking, trying to score a second, but there was fear and fatigue and it was psychological.”
Algeria have not won a World Cup finals match since 1982 and Halihodzic saw the evidence of a “psychological block” at the end of the Belgium match, even though his players did end a run of 506 minutes without a goal in the tournament thanks to Sofiane Feghouli’s first-half spot-kick.
He added: “They played differently in the last 20 minutes. I said at half-time, it is good but you have to keep pressing and when you have the ball you have to play it and attack. Why did we do otherwise in the last 20 minutes?”
Halihodzic would like a victory as a “nice present for the Algerian people” – not least because a defeat would eliminate them – but he stressed that it would “not be easy as the Korean team are better than Algeria”.
The Koreans’ World Cup record is certainly better and they are looking to maintain an unbeaten record against African teams in the competition. The Asian side’s coach, Hong Myung-Bo, was wary of Algeria – “they've got a lot of excellent forwards, they are very quick, very dynamic players” – and expects a more offensive approach from them than against Belgium. As for his own side, he predicts a positive effort to build on their opening draw with Russia. “We're going to play to win, because we absolutely have to win to hope to reach the next round,” said Hong.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
0Comments