China Men's Soccer Team to Face "Korea-phobia"

China Men's Soccer Team to Face "Korea-phobia"

Whether China's National Men's Soccer team led, by the "Miracle Coach" Bora Milutinovic, still has "Korea-phobia" will be answered July 28 when China and Korea meet in "Samsung Cup" to be held in Beijing.

China's record against Korea in the last four years has been four ties, six losses and no wins out of ten contests. In last October's Olympic Games preliminary match, the last two times the two teams met, China walked away with one tie and one loss and lost the bid to attend the Sydney Games. Thus, "Korea-phobia" has become a popular phrase in China's football circles.

Milutinovic had high praise for the Korean soccer team. He said, "I have faced the Korean team many times during my coaching career. I watched the matches between Korea and Yugoslavia and Korea and Egypt recently. They are organized, their skills aren't bad, [are] at a fairly high level but not enough for the Chinese team to fear them.

When asked to predict the result of this match, Milutinovic said, the fierce contest between the two teams will spark the Chinese team's potential. Also, our chances of beating Korea is pretty big because of the support from our numerous fans.