S. Korea taking on Ivory Coast to kick off World Cup year amid injuries, slumps
2026.03.26 09:13
S. Korea taking on Ivory Coast to kick off World Cup year amid injuries, slumps
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, March 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will open their World Cup year by playing a pair of friendly matches in Europe this month, with a tilt against Ivory Coast on Saturday set to kick things off.
The showdown between 22nd-ranked South Korea and world No. 37 Ivory Coast will be played at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, northwest of London, at 2 p.m. Saturday (local time), or 11 p.m. Saturday (South Korea time). Coached by Hong Myung-bo, South Korea will next play Austria in Vienna on Tuesday.
South Korea and Ivory Coast have played each other once before, with South Korea prevailing 2-0 in a friendly match in London in March 2010.
Both are headed for the World Cup in June. In Group A, South Korea will take on Mexico, South Africa, and a European playoff winner to be determined next week. Ivory Coast will be up against Germany, Curacao and Ecuador in Group E.
South Korea sought an African sparring partner ahead of the World Cup and will play the sixth-highest ranked African side.
But head coach Hong Myung-bo's team will be a compromised one, with injuries to some key players and an ongoing goal-scoring drought for captain Son Heung-min.
Son has not scored an open-play goal yet this season in nine matches for Los Angeles Football Club, with one penalty goal to his credit. There had already been whispers last year that Son, now 33, had lost a step and his slow start to this season has only given his skeptics more ammunition.
For his part, Hong said earlier in the week that he still has faith in Son and that the veteran forward still has what it takes to come through for the national team.
If Son can't find his groove this time, Hong will still have other in-form scorers with Besiktas forward Oh Hyeon-gyu, who has netted five goals in his first eight appearances for the Turkish club, and Celtic winger Yang Hyun-jun, who enjoyed his first multigoal effort of the Scottish season earlier this month, a day before he was picked by Hong.
On the injury front: South Korea had to cut Feyenoord midfielder Hwang In-beom before the European trip after he suffered a right ankle injury during a Dutch league match. Hwang is as irreplaceable as anyone for South Korea, given his ability to impact the game both on defense and offense with his smarts and vision.
With Hwang's absence, the next two matches will be an audition for other midfielders who will try to make an impression ahead of the World Cup.
Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Jens Castrop of Borussia Monchengladbach both picked up foot injuries in their recent club matches but are expected to see action in at least one of the two matches in Europe.
Losing Lee for any extended period of time will be a devastating blow to South Korea. Though he is mostly a backup with his French side, Lee plays a much more significant role for the national team as the playmaking midfielder, someone capable of generating scoring chances seemingly out of nothing.
Castrop, born in Germany to a Korean mother, turned heads with his early performances for Hong last fall but failed to build on that momentum in later national team matches. Typically a midfielder, Castrop was selected as a defender this time, hinting at Hong's plans to use him as a wingback in a back-three scheme.
Ivory Coast head coach Emerse Fae will take a 25-man squad featuring several Europe-based players, including Manchester United forward Amad Diallo, Nottingham Forest midfielder Ibrahim Sangare, and AS Roma defender Evan Ndicka.
In January, Ivory Coast advanced to the quarterfinals at the Africa Cup of Nations, where they lost to 31st-ranked Egypt 3-2. Ivory Coast also won their group in the African World Cup qualifiers going away, with eight victories and two draws in 10 matches while scoring 25 goals and giving up zero.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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