A member of the Swedish coaching staff admitted that it spied on its first-round opponent South Korea one day before their scheduled clash at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on Monday. Lars Jacobsson told media that one of their scouts observed South Korea's training sessions using a high performance telescope and video camera from a house near their opponent's training base in Austria.
Jacobsson said the travel to the house was long, but he called it a perfect spot to look at how the South Koreans were preparing for the event. Earlier, Jacobsson managed to sneak into one of their closed training sessions while pretending to be a passing tourist. However, the South Koreans were not convinced about his reason, so he was kicked out. After that, Jacobsson convinced a local couple to allow scouts to use their house to watch their rivals train.
Sweden Apologized For Its Action
One day before their clash, Sweden head coach Janne Andersson issued an apology to the South Korean squad. Andersson said the apology was meant to show respect to an opponent and if Sweden's action was perceived in another way.
As part of their preparation, Andersson said they usually study scheduled opponents. Andersson said the incident of spying was clearly overblown.
"[I]f what we did has been perceived in another way, then we apologize," said Andersson.
Discussing the incident, South Korea coach Shin Tae-yong tells the media that they have devised ways to confuse scouts. According to Shin, they mixed up shirt numbers during training after they heard reports about a Swedish spy.
While opponents know one of their players, Shin said it will be very difficult for Westerners to distinguish between Asians. South Korea has one international star on its team, forward Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham in the Premier League.
Also, Shin said it's only natural that coaches feel that their opponents were spying on them.
"We all try to get as much information on each other as we can," said Shin.
Sweden Defeats South Korea
For the first time since 1958, Sweden won its World Cup opening match after a 1-0 win over South Korea in their Group F clash. Swedish captain Andreas Granqvist converted a penalty in the 65th minute that was enough to power the team past the Taeguk Warriors, marking a successful return to the tournament after a 12-year absence. Granqvist's penalty kick came after a video-aided review, which confirmed the infraction.
The South Koreans tried to get back into the game, but their efforts went down the drain. With the loss, South Korea remains winless in six matches since their victory over Greece in 2010.
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