Shin Tae-yong, the head coach of the Indonesian national soccer team, met with this paper in Doha on the 10th (Korea time) ahead of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup and predicted the Korean soccer as a "super-luxury" member. He spoke cautiously from a third party's point of view, but spoke with his tongue about the "Korean power without injury."
The Korean national soccer team led by Jürgen Klinsmann has challenged to win the Asian Cup title for the first time in 64 years. Although the team claims to be an "Asian tiger," it has no championship trophy at the Asian Cup, the most prestigious competition among Asian soccer players in the 20th century. It has strong desire for a champion.
Korea is considered the favorite because it has the most spectacular lineup ever. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Lee Kang-in (PSG), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) are a number of players who play in the big leagues. As these members, they have won six consecutive A-matches and are continuing a scoreless streak for seven consecutive games.
Shin also nodded. "Personally, Korea has a very high probability of winning the title. Especially in Qatar (where the Asian Cup is taking place), didn't it experience the last World Cup in 2022. They can play in more favorable conditions than other teams. The same applies to Japan."
There is another reason to predict Korea's victory. There are no injuries. When Shin took the helm of the Korean national team in 2018 and went on to the finals of the World Cup in Russia, there were many injuries among the main agents.
Ahead of the Asian Cup, "Rival" Japan is struggling with injuries and poor conditions, including its main strikers Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) and Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton).
"Korea has no injuries. It is not easy to participate in a major championship with the highest ranking member. It is one of the luck of a coach. Coach Klinsmann is quite lucky. As he has good members, I think he has a high chance of winning the title."
Shin is also looking high. As the Indonesian national team leader since 2020, he aims to revive the "Miracle of Kazan" in 2018. As the coach of the Korean national team, he once defeated Germany (ranked first in FIFA rankings at the time) 2-0 in the final group match of the World Cup in Russia.
"We saw our performance increase by about 60 to 70 percent up until the exhibition match against Iran (0-5 loss) on Sunday. We lost, but it is more than expected. We just need to increase our performance by 20 percent over the remaining five days. As long as we don't make mistakes, we can cause unexpected changes," Shin said.
Indonesia is in Group D with Iraq, Bahrain, and Japan. Shin, who has led Indonesia to the finals for the first time in 16 years since 2007, aims to advance to the round of 16. If Korea in Group E ranks first, and Indonesia ranks second in the group, it will have a showdown with Korea in the round of 16.
"I prefer going to the round of 16 as the third place to the second place," Shin said with a smile. "If we play against Korea in the round of 16, we have a slim chance of winning. If we move to the third place, it is worth a try. It will be easier than Korea."