Yongin: Following two consecutive wins over underdogs at the ongoing regional football tournament, South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo said Friday he will now shift his focus to beating the defending champions Japan next week. South Korea defeated Hong Kong 2-0 in their second match of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Yongin, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul. Having beaten China 3-0 on Monday, South Korea improved to six points with the finale against Japan coming up on Tuesday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Japan, who pounded Hong Kong 6-1 on Tuesday, are expected to beat China on Saturday. That will set up the winner-take-all showdown between the long-time rivals at Yongin. "Our players must prepare well over the remaining days and compete hard to win this tournament. We will concentrate on winning that match," Hong said. "In the history of this tournament, the last match between South Korea and Japan has always been the important one. Our players are in pretty good form and we will prepare well for that match."

South Korea have won five of the nine EAFF tournaments played so far, with Japan and China having claimed two titles apiece. Hong gave six players their first caps against China and then five more players made their international debuts against Hong Kong. The coach had an entirely new starting lineup Friday than the one he deployed Monday, and said he was pleased with the way those new faces made in-game adjustments.

"It took a while for them to find their footing, but after we tweaked a few things for the second half, we played better," Hong said. "I think the players were pressing too hard to score goals. We should have scored a couple more goals in the first half, but overall, I think we played well." Kang Sang-yoon and Lee Ho-jae, both in the starting lineup for the first time, each netted their first international goals. "I'd like to congratulate them for scoring so early in their international careers," Hong said. "I think they will realize how much better they have to get after this tournament."

For the second straight match, Hong experimented with a back-three formation, a departure from the back-four setup that South Korea had been playing for years. The coach has already hinted that back-three could become the new norm for his team at the FIFA World Cup next year. He is playing the EAFF without the national team mainstays from Europe and the Middle East, whose clubs weren't obliged to release them for this tournament. But Hong said he will likely stick with the back-three formation even when the overseas-based players rejoin the squad for future matches.

"We won't play to make things comfortable for those coming in from overseas. The important thing is to have good, strong tactics that can help us play well at the World Cup," Hong said. "Our plan all along was to use the back-three system in this tournament. But our offensive style hasn't changed and I think the players from Europe shouldn't have problems playing in this setup."