South Korea Olympic boss: It's up to us to lift Park Chu-Young

16-Jul-2012 10:27:00 AM

Hong Myung-Bo's side flew out of Incheon International Airport on Sunday as they try to claim their first ever Olympic medal in football at the 2012 games

South Korea's Olympic coach Hong Myung-Bo says he's confident of his side's chances at the 2012 London games but wants them to improve in order to get the most out of wildcard striker Park Chu-Young.

The Arsenal man, who scored in Saturday's 2-1 warm-up victory over New Zealand's Under-23 side, is one of Korea's three over-age players for the Olympics football tournament which begins on July 26.

Hong told reporters ahead of the team's departure from Incheon International Airport for the United Kingdom on Sunday that his side did better than he expected against New Zealand, although he has concerns in defence and in maximising Park's output.

“It is up to us to lift [Park's] ability to the maximum,” Hong told reporters.

On the team, he added: “The physical fitness has been pulled up at 90 per cent of their maximum, the strategic coordination at 80 per cent. We will try making up for the shortages during the remaining days."

Korea has never won an Olympic medal in football and one of the side's key areas of concern is defence where they looked shaky against New Zealand.

Hong continued: “It is true that our central defence isn’t playing at a confident level, and we will try to help the players have more confidence."

The Koreans have also had to replace defender Jang Hyun-Soo with Kim Hyun-Sung due to injury.

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