South Korea boss acknowledges ‘difficult’ Brazil task, bemoans tight World Cup schedule but will not give up

The last time South Korea made the quarter-finals of the tournament was in 2002, when they co-hosted the event with Japan. They would go on to finish fourth.

“I do not think that it is something that we need to consider at this moment, Our goal, our target and our energy should be directed to what we should do tomorrow and what has to be done tomorrow. After that we’ll see what the future is ahead of us,” said Bento.

“I’m a realist, I’ve already conveyed … to them that it is a tough objective we have ahead of us, we will obviously have to try with different strategies, but we have to try.”

THE NEYMAR FACTOR

South Korea finished second in Group H, after beating Portugal 2-1 in their last group game.

The win, coupled with the fact that Uruguay could only beat Ghana 2-0 meant that Bento’s men were level on points and goal difference with the South American side, but progressed having scored more goals in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Brazil topped Group G with relative ease.

The Selecao won both their first two group games, keeping clean sheets in both. However, a late loss to Cameroon and a number of injuries to key players mean that they no longer look as invincible as some thought.

But Tite’s men are also facing somewhat of an injury crisis. Both the injured Alex Telles and Gabriel Jesus are out of the World Cup altogether, while Alex Sandro will sit out the game against South Korea.

But Danilo and Neymar should be back, Tite said on Sunday.

Neymar suffered an injury in Brazil’s opening 2-0 win against Serbia and missed the next two games against Switzerland and Cameroon.

“We would be hypocrites if we said that we would prefer playing with Neymar (on the field), that would be a lie. We would prefer that he would not be in the field of play,” said South Korea’s Bento.

“But honestly speaking, I always prefer that the best players are in the field of play, and of course, if they are not in the field of play, we would hope that it is not because of an injury.”