The South Korean under-23 football team resumes their quest for an Olympic ticket this evening [22 August] facing Uzbekistan at home in the opener of the third and final stage of the qualification rounds, The Korea Times reported.

Manger Park Sung-hwa, coaching his first game at the helm of the U23 team, is certainly hoping for a convincing thumping of the underdog visitors that would help erase the public mumblings about his controversial hire earlier this month.

However, with several of the team’s key attackers absent with injuries, Park finds himself short on ammunition and the Uzbekistan match is shaping up as a test for his resources at the end of the bench.

It seems that the pre-match talks are centered more on who is not taking part in the game than who is. FC Seoul striker Park Chu-young, who continues to be bothered by a mysterious foot injury, would be missed most for his prolific scoring rate and experience in international competition.

Coach Park is also without Chu-young’s regular frontline partner, Ulsan Hyundai’s Yang Dong-hyeon, who is out with a knee injury and expected to miss out the final qualification rounds.

Forced to work without his top-two offensive options, Park is improvising, hoping that 20-year-old Shim Young-rok (Suwon Samsung) can duplicate Yang’s role as an aerial threat while the swift and crafty Han Dong-won (Seongnam Ilhwa) masquerades in Chu-young’s role as the deep-lying striker.

``I can’t afford to change too many things at this point. Instead of trying too many new things, I am focusing on building on what we have been doing good and have the players in top condition ahead of game time,’’ said Park.

``Han shows impressive composure in front of the net and plays best when paired with a strong, center forward type. He isn’t as effective when paired with an attacker with a similar style,’’ he said.

Perhaps Park expects less from his newly-minted frontline duo than the polished wingers who support them. Lee Keun-ho (Daegu FC), a 22-year-old who is already regarded as one of the country’s top attacking midfielders, is a proven asset at the left flank and could constantly terrorize Uzbek defenders with his pace and crossing ability.

Kim Seung-yong (FC Seoul) is expected to support Shim and Han at the right wing, while central midfielders Baek Ji-hoon (Suwon Samsung) and Oh Jang-eun (Ulsan Hyundai) would be assigned to defensive roles and play mostly behind the ball.

The Chunnam Dragons duo of Kim Jin-kyu and Kang Min-soo will start as the central defense pair, as they do in the senior team, while left-back Choi Chul-soon (Jeongbuk Hyundai) and right-back Kim Chang-soo (Daejeon Citizen) would be asked to provide extra support on offense.

Park hopes that his 4-4-2 formation, which utilizes the team’s strength and width at the midfield, could find away to crack through Uzbek’s tight defense that starts with a enlarged midfield.

Han’s pair of strikes helped Korea edge Uzbekistan 2-0 at home in March 28 in the second stage of the qualification rounds. However, Korea labored through a 1-0 win in their rematch in Tashkent a month later, struggling to win possession against Uzbekistan’s 3-5-2 lineup and escaped with the victory on a second-half strike by Baek.

Should the Koreans continue to struggle to solve Uzbekistan’s defense, a defensive blunder or two could come as costly.

Uzbekistan strikers Kamoliddin Murzoyev and Shavkat Salomov have good chemistry on the frontline and their composure makes them dangerous mistake-hitters. The Uzbeks also has an effective distributor in Anzur Ismailov, who is expected to start in the central midfield.