DOHA: South Korea attempt to land their first Asian Cup in 51 years this month but their hopes have been hit hard by the withdrawal of key striker Park Chu-young.
The 2002 World Cup semi-finalists are one of the pre-tournament favourites but start their Group C matches against Australia, Bahrain and India without a man who has scored more goals than anyone else in the squad.
Chu-young, who played up front as the sole striker during last year’s World Cup, hurt his knee while celebrating an injury-time winner for his French club Monaco against FC Sochaux on Dec 23.
Doctors have ruled him out for up to four weeks with cartilage damage, with coach Cho Kwang-rae drafting in Hong Jung-ho, a defender, as a replacement.
It is a major blow but Cho is confident his team can still perform.
“I have faith in our players’ capabilities,” he told reporters.
“We can’t keep worrying about Park Chu-young’s injury. Football is not an individual sport, and if each of the 23 players can come together, we can overcome this problem.”
Without him, South Korea’s front line features Ji Dong-won, Kim Shin-wook, and Yoo Byung-soo.
But Kwang-rae, who took over from Huh Jung-moo after the South Africa World Cup, also has Celtic duo Cha Du-ri and Ki Sung-yeung at his disposal.
They both scored in their final match before jetting out to Qatar when they beat St Johnstone 2-0.
He also has hugely influential captain, Manchester United’s Park Ji-sung, on board after Alex Ferguson agreed to release the midfielder for international duty.
Park missed the last tournament four years ago with injury and has suggested the 2011 showpiece could be his international swansong.
Despite reaching seven consecutive World Cups, South Korea’s Asian Cup accomplishments are relatively modest.
They won the first two editions in Hong Kong in 1956 and on home soil four years later and have finished runner-up three times, in 1972, 1980 and 1988.
But another title has eluded them with third place finish at the last edition in 2007, meaning they qualified automatically for Qatar.
They open their tournament on Jan 10 against Bahrain before a crucnh match against Australia four days later that could determine who tops the group.
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