South Korea’s coach Shin Tae-yong says he intentionally made his workforce put on completely different numbered shirts in current friendlies to confuse World Cup opponents.
He stated all however star participant Heung-Min Son and captain Ki Sung-yueng got completely different shirts in video games in opposition to Bolivia and Senegal in Austria earlier this month to outwit anybody checking up on his workforce.
The declare got here simply 24 hours earlier than his facet open their World Cup marketing campaign in opposition to Sweden, an encounter which has been spiced up by claims of spying in addition to the Korean coach’s shirt subterfuge.
In his press convention, Swedish coach Janne Andersson was compelled to apologise after it was claimed one in all his scouts had been caught spying on Monday’s opponents at a closed coaching session in Austria.
However the declare by his Korean reverse quantity added an additional layer of intrigue to the Group F conflict.
“All the others performed in numbers somewhat bit complicated, that is why we switched the numbers,” Shin Tae-yong stated.
“It is very tough for Westerners to differentiate between Asians, that is why we did that.”
Requested about claims that Sweden had spied on his workforce, Shin Tae-yong was calm, saying: “I do not assume that is unhealthy”, including that every one groups wanted to learn about their opponents.
There have been counter-claims that the Koreans additionally spied on the Swedes within the run-up to Russia.
The row centres on Swedish scout Lasse Jacobsson who reportedly covertly watching the Koreans put together for the World Cup.
Jacobsson had apparently rented a home within the city of Leogang, close to Salzburg to ‘spy’ on Sweden’s first opponents.
“He heard a few apply session, he did not perceive that it was a closed session, he did not perceive and he watched from a distance,” stated Andersson, making an attempt to downplay the incident.
“It is essential we present respect to all our opponents in all circumstances, if somebody may interpret it in one other approach we remorse it.
“It has been made a mountain out of a molehill.”