South Korea 1 Angola 0

On a cold and snowy night in Seoul the Palancas Negras of Angola put up a valiant fight but in the end came up just a hair short against one of Asia’s top teams. South Korea beat Angola 1-0 thanks to a goal by Park Chu-young in the 23rd minute. Angola never could find its game, perhaps because of the elements and perhaps because South Korea is a really talented team. The best scoring chance came in the first half, but Flavio was unable to put the biscuit in the basket.

While this loss has left me sad, I am not shedding tears for Angola today. We played without our playmaker Figueiredo and Mantorras our main striker didn’t make the trip. Even though I predicted we would score a couple of goals, I can see now that we didn’t have our “A” offense for the game. The good news is that the defense played well and that the team was not outclassed by a fellow World Cup qualifing team. Sure, South Korea outshot us 21-9, but we only gave up one goal and that is the statistic that truly matters.

With more world class players coming on board every week, I am optimistic how things are shaping up for Germany this summer.

Here is a match report from the somewhat biased Korean press.