Korea Beats Football Legends Mexico 1-0

Chosun - The South Korean football team finished up its overseas training on a high note with a victory over FIFA sixth-ranked Mexico.

Lee Dong-gook was in luck 15 minutes into the friendly at Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum, netting the winning goal in the 1-0 game. Korea dominated for most of the match, but out of the multiple scoring opportunities allowed by the Mexican defense, Korea was only able to convert one.
This victory comes four years and eight months after Korea’s last win over the formidable Mexicans, a 2-1 triumph at the Confederations Cup in Ulsan. Their match record tallies altogether four wins, two draws and five losses. Over its entire training tour, Korea notched up five wins, one draw and three defeats.

The Koreans started off slightly inferior to Mexico, but when Lee Dong-gook scored taking advantage of Mexican goalkeeper Sanchez Oswaldo’s mistake, the game turned favorable for the Asians. After Sanchez took possession of the ball after a free kick by Lee Chun-soo, he misread a Korean off-side and rolled the ball to kick it away, Lee Dong-gook, who was in penalty area, sprinted for the ball and put it in the net. After that, Korea ruled, pressuring the Mexican team from the midfield. The number of shots was 18 for Korea and nine for Mexico.


Some 40,000 out of 64,000 spectators in California were Mexicans, so Korea faced much the same atmosphere as in an away game. Only about 10,000 Korean residents made it to the match. On Saturday, the Koreans move on to Aleppo, Syria via London to play a preliminary for the 2007 Asian Cup against Syria on Feb. 22. On March 1, the team will play a friendly in Seoul against Angola, which is also on the ticket in the World Cup in Germany, where it will be joined by players under contract in Europe including Park Ji-sung and Lee Young-pyo.