Spain, Korea face off in replay of 2002 World Cup meeting

European champions Spain will be seeking to erase painful memories when they play a warm-up match Thursday against South Korea, to whom they lost the 2002 World Cup quarter-final.

This will also be a chance to make up for a lacklustre performance against Saudi Arabia on Saturday in Innsbruck, Austria, where the Spaniards scraped a 3-2 victory against a side which did not qualify for the upcoming tournament in South Africa.

Plagued with injuries, many of Spain’s key players will be looking for playing time a week before the World Cup kicks off.

The game will serve “to give chances to almost all those who did not play (against Saudi Arabia),” coach Vicente del Bosque said Wednesday.

“It’s one more step in our preparation,” he said.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who fractured his tibia in March, is due to make his comeback at Innsbruck’s Tivoli stadium.

Injured Barcelona midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez were also fully recovered, Del Bosque said.

But Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will probably be rested until Spain face Switzerland in their first group stage match in South Africa on June 16.

“The important thing is that he is ok that day, not whether he plays tomorrow. We won’t take any risks,” said Del Bosque.

Spain will also be hoping to exorcise the ghosts of the 2002 World Cup, when La Furia Roja lost to South Korea in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out, after a disputed game in which two Spanish goals were disallowed.

South Korea, which ended top of its group in the qualifying stage without losing a single game, also has some catching up to do after losing 0-1 to Belarus in a warm-up match in Kufstein, in Austrian Tyrol, on Sunday.

The Taeguk Warriors became the first Asian team to reach the semi-finals with their 2002 defeat of Spain and are making their seventh consecutive World Cup appearance this year.

Although they have a decent chance of getting into the knockout rounds, another appearance in the last four may be beyond them, however.

Thursday’s friendly match will be the last for South Korea before they head south for their first group stage game against Greece on June 12.

Spain play one last warm-up match against Poland in Spain on June 8 in Murcia before flying to South Africa.