Scotland troop off after the dismal defeat in Busan

Hwang Sun-hong avoids the lunge of Scotland's Gary Caldwell as South Korea's slick passing style impresses

Choi Jin-cheul runs at Scotland's Scott Dobie

Park Ji-Sung skillfully twists away from Gary Caldwell

Scots outclassed by Korea

JONATHAN COATES at the Asiad Stadium

YESTERDAY we witnessed what can happen when international football throws together one team at the zenith of its powers, and another at its historical low ebb. South Korea have never been better; Scotland have never been worse, and this was the ear-splitting result.

Roared on by the cacophony of 52,000 Koreans in a magnificent futuristic stadium, Guus Hiddink’s players were relentless in their crazed pursuit of Scottish scalps and World Cup places. All the stereotypes depicting Far Eastern people as frantic, excitable, tireless workhorses could be applied to this highly-accomplished team.

Their pace was extraordinary, their fitness was Herculean and their goals were stunning. For Scotland, read all of the above, but with tongue lodged in cheek. Berti Vogts was to find the green mountains of Busan no more hospitable to his new Scotland team than the dusty suburbs of Paris, where the new manager’s first experiment resulted in a 5-0 defeat.

South Korea did just as good a job as France of convincing their supporters they will enter this summer’s World Cup on the crest of a wave. The Koreans, adhered to one another by five months of preparation for the pressurised demands of contesting such an event on home soil, have competed in 11 games this year. Scotland have played three. How it showed.

No member of the Scotland party wanted afterwards to use jet-lag as an excuse, but when you play a high-class team in an intimidating arena on the back of a 15-hour flight, two nights’ inadequate slumber and a rearranged training session in torrential rain, you can hardly be expected to perform at optimum fitness.

Beaten for pace almost invariably, tortured by the caverns of space they were unable to cover and outdone for skill more regularly than in any match you could recall, Scotland were mercilessly torn apart, their opponents netting four times and missing two desirable chances to expand this tally.

Vogts, fielding Gary Caldwell and Michael Stewart in the key positions he would normally want occupied by Paul Lambert and Don Hutchison, realised soon enough that his abuse of players’ natural positions would not go unpunished.

With Caldwell losing his position more often than not and David Weir and Christian Dailly failing to establish which centre-half would take the initiative, Korea found right from the start that you could cut through the heart of this team like a knife through butter.

Scot Gemmill lost possession in his own half and, almost before he could turn his head to assess the damage, the Koreans had completed a two-pass move to send clear Lee Shun Soo, the 20-year-old blond striker, through on goal.

Lee was offside at this attempt, but would not have to wait long for further service. It seemed a slightly uncultured long ball from Yoo Sang Chul that set him up for the opening goal, but Weir found himself exposed to the striker’s predatory instincts as the ball drifted over his head.

Lee sprinted forth and fooled his opponent by dummying inside his retrieving tackle. In almost pedestrian fashion he then stepped to the left of Neil Sullivan and slid the ball home with his left foot, just as Graham Alexander came in to challenge.

The reaction of the crowd would have been startling if the din had not been set in motion half-an-hour before the match began. South Korea possess an extraordinarily large official supporters’ club named the Red Devils, who filled the lower half of one quarter of this tremendous bowl-shaped arena and, all bedecked in red, banged drums, sang songs and danced in a degree of unison quite unique among football fans.

The fact their team was winning, of course, only exacerbated the decibel level as Hiddink’s 3-4-3 formation went in search of inflicting further wounds. The Dutchman said at half time that his side should have killed off Scotland in the first half. Had Alexander’s clearance via his groin and face of a teasing cross by Hwang Sun Hong drifted a foot to the left, the mortal strike would have been self-inflicted.

Scotland’s free-kick delivery was tepid and overcooked, and whenever the errant midfield passers found Scott Dobie or Garry O’Connor, they failed to get forward in time to assist.

The hosts attained double figures in their attempts on goal in the first half, and this standard was easily matched in the second. Ahn Jung Hwan, the forward whose presence in the national team has suffered because of his inability to make an impression at Perugia, did not betray any lack of confidence when he turned inside Alexander 22 yards out and directed a firm shot past the onrushing Weir and to the left of Sullivan, who seemed to throw the wrong hand at the ball as it flew past him.

Buoyed by the unstinting hysteria coming from the stands, another substitute made an equally glorious impact. Yoon Jong Hwan’s first contribution was to fire a divine shot high to the right of Sullivan.

After Dobie climbed unmarked to head home Gemmill’s free-kick from the left to convert Scotland’s only real opening, Ahn supplied a fitting coup de grace by making his way into the box and chipping Sullivan quite impeccably with the toes of his left foot.

Just when they thought the trauma was over, the Scots were forced to undergo a humiliating line-up in the centre circle to acknowledge the crowd, and you wonder how many more times they will have to endure such demoralising thumpings.

There may be promise for the future, but in plain terms, the new generation being cultivated by Vogts is still some distance from acquiring comparison with even the most shambling elects of the past.

South Korea: Kim Byung Ji, Kim Tae Young, Hong Myung Bo (Yoon Jong Hwan 65), Choi Jin Cheul (Lee Min Sung 46), Lee Eul Yong, Lee Young Pyo, Song Chong Gug, Yoo Sang Chul, Lee Chun Soo (Cha Du Ri 73), Hwang Sun Hong (Ahn Jung Hwan 46), Park Ji Sung (Choi Tae Uk 73).

Scotland: Sullivan, G Alexander (Stockdale 63), Ross, Weir, Dailly, Caldwell, Johnston (Kyle 66), Gemmill, Dobie, Stewart (Severin 46), O’Connor (Williams 46). Subs not used: Gallacher, N Alexander, Cummings, Wilkie, McFadden.

Referee: N Santhan (Singapore).