S.Koreans fast adapting to South African life

South Korean players have fast adapted to conditions in South Africa, with their use of oxygen masks paying dividends and more great exploits expected in the World Cup finals.

The ‘Taeguk Warriors’ powered to a convincing 2-0 win over Euro 2004 champions Greece in their World Cup opener and now Diego Maradona’s Argentina await them in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Ahead of the tournament, the squad routinely used a specially built “thin-air” lounge to acclimatise for South Africa where five of the nine host cities are more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) above sea level.

The room had a rectangular metal box in the wall, with low-oxygen air funneled through the duct by a huge machine worth 130,000 dollars imported from the Netherlands.

They have also been using oxygen masks – and it has clearly paid off.

“The team’s mood is much better compared to when we first got here,” defender Kim Nam-Il told reporters here.

“We have gotten used to our days in South Africa.

“While there are concerns regarding the next match against Argentina, we believe we can achieve good results as we’ve done fairly well so far,” he said.

The team’s progress is being closely followed at home, with some one million red-shirted fans, including 200,000 in Seoul, packing boulevards, stadiums and parks on Saturday for their victory over Greece despite miserable weather.

Coach Huh Jung-Moo is confident but is being careful not to let his side get carried away, with Argentina – who beat Nigeria 1-0 on Saturday – their formidable next opponents.

“Argentina are one of the candidates for the title, they have a lot of good players, but I have told my players to remain confident,” said Huh.

“No matter how strong they are if we do what we have to do we can manage to grow.

“Just because it’s Argentina one shouldn’t be defeatist.”

South Korea are playing in their seventh consecutive World Cup but have only gone past the group stages once before, when they made the semi-finals in 2002 on home turf under the guidance of Guus Hiddink.