Fresher Socceroos confident of taking advantage of a tired South Korean outfit

The Socceroos sense an opportunity to dominate a tired South Korean outfit at the Asian Cup.

The Socceroos plan to “exploit” a fatigued South Korea with a “physical” approach to Saturday morning’s Asian Cup quarter-final showdown in Qatar.

The Australians haven’t played since comfortably beating Indonesia 4-0 in a round-of-16 match that finished shortly after midnight last Monday morning (AEDT).

In contrast, the South Koreans didn’t play their round-of-16 clash with Saudi Arabia until Wednesday morning (AEDT) in a contest that went for more than two hours, including a tension-packed penalty shootout.

“Physically, they’ve got a shorter turnaround and they obviously played the 120 minutes, plus the penalties,” Socceroos striker Mitch Duke said.

“There are going to be some sore bodies and tired bodies from the South Korea camp.

“We’ve got to exploit that with our high energy, and the physicality of how we play anyway could be an advantage for us for sure.”

However, Duke conceded the Taeguk Warriors could ride a wave of emotion and spirit into the match at Al Janoub Stadium – as has been suggested by South Korea’s coach Jurgen Klinsmann – to overcome Australia’s fresher team.

Mitch Duke is preparing for the Socceroos battle against South Korea. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“In tournament football, you can obviously rid the highs as well. I’m sure they’ll be on adrenaline just winning, how they came back from 1-0 down (in stoppage-time), and winning the penalties,” he said.

“They’re going to just want to click on, and it sounds like their coach has them very motivated to not show weakness as well … so we’ve got to be prepared.

“The South Koreans are known physically to be quite dominant as well and very good, obviously with their energy, so I’m sure they’ll be ready to go for the match.

“We’ve just got to make sure we over-run them, and not just match them, but definitely over-power them, make them tired, and hopefully … take them over, especially at the back end of a 90-minute game.”

The Socceroos should enjoy playing against a star-studded South Korea side captained by Tottenham skipper Son Heung-min.

The Taeguk Warriors, unlike other teams during this tournament, will attack Australia, rather than sit back and defend in numbers.

This should allow the Australians to play to their strengths by using the space to hit their opponents on the counter attack.

“Each opponent brings different problems that you have to solve,” said Duke, who acknowledged the Socceroos had found it tough to break down heavily packed defences during the tournament.

“We’ve got to do better with our problem solving … (but) coming up against South Korea, that’s going to be a completely different approach and a different game altogether.

“They’re going to be coming at us, (and) we’re going to be going at them. There’ll be more spaces and maybe more fluidity to play football as well.

“Hopefully, that’s going to suit us even better. We know when we can perform to our best that nobody can stop us.

“That’s our mentality, and that’s the way we approach games. If we can keep showing improvement as well in the games of this tournament, we can go all the way. “

AFC Asian Cup quarter-final

Australia v South Korea

Saturday. 2.30am (AEDT)

Al Janoub Stadium, Doha

Broadcast: Network 10

Head-to-head –

Matches: 33

Wins: Australia 12, South Korea 11

Draws: 10

Possible Socceroos line-up: Mat Ryan, Nathaniel Atkinson, Harry Souttar, Kye Rowles, Aziz Behich, Jackson Irvine, Keanu Baccus, Riley McGree, Martin Boyle, Mitch Duke, Jordan Bos.

Originally published as Fresher Socceroos confident of taking advantage of a tired South Korean outfit