South Korea v Turkey
Third place play-off | Daegu
Sat Jun 29 2002 | 12:00 BST
BBC Radio Five Live
South Korea will be giving their all in the battle for third place at the World Cup, coach Guus Hiddink said on Thursday.
He said there would be no repeat of the lacklustre display by Holland, the team he coached to the same stage of the 1998 finals.
The Koreans have surprised everyone with the pacy, physical football that has powered them to wins over Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
They meet Turkey in Daegu in Saturday's play-off after losing to Germany 1-0 in their semi-final.
"I take this third place very seriously, it will be a very tough game but I think there's a lot of prestige for third place," Hiddink said on Thursday.
The only coach to take two different countries to a World Cup semi-final, Hiddink said South Korea owed it to their many fans to perform better than his Dutch team did four years ago in a listless 2-1 defeat to Croatia.
"Four years ago in France I had the same situation with Holland, we missed the final on penalty kicks to Brazil so we went into the third-fourth place (match)," he said.
"It was an under-motivated game we played in Paris, it was not nice," he said, adding that things would be different this time.
"The circumstances are different, we have fantastic crowds. Just for them we'd like to perform very well," he said.
South Korea supporters, thrilled after ending a run of five finals without a single victory, have provided huge support at matches and millions more have taken to the streets to cheer before outdoor screens.
"Not only where we played but outside the stadiums we were supported so nicely in this tournament that we feel obliged to go more than 100% for third place," Hiddink said.
The coach said the match would see two sides playing similar brands of high-speed attacking football.
"I'm not going to change the style of the Korean team which (has) made it famous in the world," Hiddink said.
Injuries
"It will be a 50-50 game because they have the same style, they like to attack as well, they have technically skilled players."
Veteran striker Hwang Sun-Hong, defender Choi Jin-Cheul and defensive midfielder Kim Nam-Il all three missed training on Thursday.
Choi and Kim nursed ankle injuries and Hwang has hurt his left upper thigh.
"Nam-Il (being injured) is a big setback for the team because when those kind of players are not there, then you have some problems," Hiddink said.
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