SEOUL, Saudi Arabia head coach Roberto Mancini said Monday that South Korea, his team’s upcoming knockout opponent at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup in Qatar, are still “a very good team” despite their hiccups during the group phase.
“It’s my opinion that South Korea is a very good team. Even if they conceded six goals in the group stage, it doesn’t change their strength,” the Italian-born tactician said at his prematch press conference at the Main Media Centre in Doha on Monday, the eve of Saudi Arabia’s round of 16 clash against South Korea. The match kicks off at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha, at 7 p.m. Tuesday local time, or 1 a.m. Wednesday in Seoul.
“They have very good players and they score a lot of goals,” Mancini added.
Saudi Arabia, ranked 56th, won Group F after beating Oman and Kyrgyzstan, and then having a draw against Thailand. The Green Falcons scored four times and conceded one.
South Korea, world No. 23, came within minutes of winning Group E before
allowing a last-gasp equalizer in a 3-3 draw against Malaysia on Thursday. The result left the Taegeuk Warriors with one win and two draws, good for only second place behind Bahrain. South Korea netted eight goals but conceded six, tied with Indonesia for the most goals allowed by a team that qualified for the knockouts.
Saudi Arabia have had five wins, eight draws and five losses against South Korea. Their most recent meeting, a friendly match in Newcastle, England, in September 2023, ended in a 1-0 win for South Korea, their first victory under new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann in his sixth match.
Mancini, who took over Saud Arabia in August last year, said his team has made progress over the past month. With Saudi Arabia expected to have the support of thousands of supporters traveling across the border to Qatar, Mancini said his team will be playing with “12 players.”
“We have all our supporters that will push us tomorrow. Probably, it’s a different time from other matches that Saudi Arabia played agains
t Korea,” he said. “I am sure we’ll do a very good job tomorrow. It will be a very good game.”
Mancini said it will take a group effort on Saudi Arabia’s part to contain talented South Korean attackers.
“It will be very important to play as a team, not alone, because it is difficult to stop their offensive players,” he said. “It’s not only with attackers, but their whole team is very good. They have good experience and they have good quality. I think that we’ve improved a lot in the last month. We’re positive.”
Klinsmann and Mancini, both 59, enjoyed strong playing careers, with Klinsmann boasting two major trophies that Mancini never won as a player: a World Cup title in 1990 and a European title in 1996. They faced each other in the late 1980s and early 1990s while plying their trade in Italy: Mancini for Sampdoria and Klinsmann for Inter Milan.
Mancini has put together a more decorated coaching CV. Mancini led Manchester City to three trophies, including the Premier League title in the 2011-2012 season
, and Inter Milan to three consecutive Serie A titles. Mancini also guided his native Italy to the Euro 2020 title.
“We played against each other many years ago in Italy. He was a very good striker. Now he’s a very good manager,” Mancini said of his counterpart. “He has a lot of experience with many national teams and clubs. He knows football very well.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency