Fresher Aussies to exploit ‘sore and tired’ South Korea

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 roundof-16 match last Monday.

In contrast, the South Koreans didn’t play their roundof-16 clash with Saudi Arabia until Wednesday 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

ASIAN CUP Q-FINAL

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 said 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.

“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,” Duke 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 overpower 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.