An interesting scene was witnessed ahead of the second round of the A-match evaluation match in March, when the new coach of the Korean national soccer team will make his debut. South Korea cooperated with rival Japan, a close but distant neighbor, to find a sparring partner.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 6th that it would play an A match against Colombia, a South American powerhouse, on March 24, and at the same time, the Japan Football Association also announced the news of the confrontation with Colombia.

The difference between the announcements of the two countries was the match date. Korea will face Colombia first, and then Japan will play four days later on March 28th.

The opponent of the remaining match A, which has not yet been announced, will play the match in Japan first and then visit Korea.

The outline of the A-match opponent 메이저사이트hidden in a veil can be predicted by the information that the Japanese side first revealed. Yasuharu Sorimachi, technical director of the Japan Football Association, announced on the 2nd that South American countries are looking for a team that is at least in the 20th place in the FIFA rankings. Considering this, it seems that Uruguay (16th) has been virtually eliminated. The Japanese media are already reporting Uruguay’s visit to Korea and Japan as a fait accompli.

World No. 1 Brazil already had a history of visiting Korea and Japan alternately in June of last year, while Argentina decided to hold an evaluation match to commemorate Qatar’s World Cup victory in their home country. An official from the Korea Football Association said, “In fact, Argentina was negotiating a visit to Korea in March, but it failed. Colombia was an alternative,” he explained.

The fact that Korea and Japan are actually seeking an A-match partner in the form of a package is interpreted as an effort to match the rules and reality.

FIFA restricts that matches can only be played on the same continent to protect players during the A-match period. If Korea and Japan do not go on an expedition, it is a picture that can make everyone laugh if they cooperate and play against the same opponent.

In fact, it is not the first time that the two countries have cooperated in an A match. This was the case with Brazil and Paraguay, who faced each other in a four-game series in June last year. It was the same in March 2019 (Colombia and Bolivia) and October 2018 (Panama and Uruguay), when A matches were actively held before the spread of Corona 19.

Cooperation between Korea and Japan is also positive in that it can save invitation fees, airfare, and living expenses that must be paid whenever an A match is played in the home.

However, as the number of collaborations between the two countries increases, changes are also detected. In the past, Japan tended to pay more, but now both countries are changing to spend the same amount. An official from the association said, “The cost is increasing compared to the past A match,” and “It seems that the frequency of finding opponents on equal terms with Japan will increase.”