Soccer-Bento pleased that South Korea stuck to their style in friendlies

The Taeguk Warriors have been drawn to face Portugal, Ghana and Uruguay in the group stage of the World Cup and Bento said he was pleased that one vital ingredient was already in place ahead of that challenge in November. "The team spirit," he replied when asked what had most pleased him most from the four games.

South Korea coach Paulo Bento was delighted with the way his team stuck to their system even after going behind in the friendlies over the last couple of weeks that began their preparations for the World Cup. Tuesday's 4-1 win over Egypt concluded a busy June home schedule, which started with a 5-1 humbling at the hands of Brazil and continued with a 2-0 win over Chile and a 2-2 draw with Paraguay.

Bento was keen to accentuate the positive and not dwell on the defensive frailties which saw South Korea concede first in three of the four matches, and ship eight goals in total. "We're going to make mistakes in the future, and we should try to improve that," Yonhap news agency quoted Bento as saying after the Egypt victory.

"At the same time, there were many, many things we did well. "The most important for me was the way we reacted (against Chile) after we lost (to Brazil), and the way we reacted after we were losing 2-0 (to Paraguay) in the second half and kept playing in our style.

"This is the best thing." The loss to Brazil triggered jitters in South Korea over Bento's adventurous style with some critics calling for a return to the days when the national team adopted a safety-first approach.

Although led by skipper Son Heung-min, South Korea missed the pace of Kim Min-Jae at the back over the four matches as the Fenerbahce central defender recovered from surgery. The Taeguk Warriors have been drawn to face Portugal, Ghana, and Uruguay in the group stage of the World Cup and Bento said he was pleased that one vital ingredient was already in place ahead of that challenge in November.

"The team spirit," he replied when asked what had most pleased him most from the four games.

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