football win-reaction
 |
| ▲ South Korean players (in red) celebrate their 1-0 victory over Lebanon in the teams' Group A match in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Yonhap) |
 |
| ▲ Kwon Chang-hoon of South Korea (C) celebrates his goal against Lebanon during the teams' Group A match in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Yonhap) |
 |
| ▲ South Korea head coach Paulo Bento (L) speaks with his assistant coaches during his team's Group A match against Lebanon in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Yonhap) |
football win-reaction
S. Korea coach satisfied with 'fair' victory over Lebanon in World Cup qualifier
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- Given the number of opportunities they had against Lebanon in their World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday, South Korea could easily have won by a larger margin than 1-0.
After all, South Korea outshot Lebanon 20-7 at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul. But only one yielded a goal, scored by Kwon Chang-hoon in the 60th minute, and South Korea coach Paulo Bento lamented wasting all the other opportunities that could have put away Lebanon well before that goal.
"In general, the victory was fair. The goal difference, in my opinion, is not," Bento said in his postmatch press conference. "If we had been (more) efficient in the first half, we could have decided the game in the first 45 minutes. But I am satisfied because of the victory and also because I think the performance was good."
However, Bento also pointed out that his players slowed the game down too much after taking the lead.
"The part of the game that I didn't like so much was when we started controlling the game in our defensive midfield, instead of controlling the game in the offensive midfield," the coach added.
The narrow victory came on the heels of a scoreless draw against Iraq last Thursday. But not all wins are created equal, and South Korea will continue to face criticism for their inability to convert chances around the net against a clearly inferior team.
But Bento was defiant when asked to comment on why his players weren't able to take advantage of space behind the Lebanese defense.
"Why didn't we use the space behind the defensive line? Because we didn't have it," Bento said. "It's difficult to use things that we don't have. When opponents play with the low block, it's difficult to find that kind of space. After the goal, we had more space, and we used that.
"The opponent's strategy is also important. We're not playing alone," Bento continued. "I think we did well in the first half to create good chances to score. After the opponent released more space at the back, we used that space as well."
Despite playing two straight matches at home against lower-ranked teams, South Korea only grabbed four points. But Bento chose to look on the brighter side of things.
"We have four points and I think we deserved to win both games," Bento said. "We didn't concede goals in both games. We just conceded one goal situation to the opponents."
Asked what needs to change for South Korea to improve their performance in the future, Bento said, "I really don't know."
"I don't know what will come in the future. The future for me is October (when South Korea will next play). No more than that," Bento said. "Just thinking about October and trying to play as well as possible, correct certain things we did, and prepare for the next two games in the best possible way."
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
