Veron set to miss game

16 June 2010 21:19

Argentina coach Diego Maradona is set to make at least one change to his winning line-up for their World Cup encounter against South Korea, with veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron being rested as a precaution.

The 35-year-old Veron played 74 minutes of Argentina's 1-0 victory over Nigeria in their opening match, but he has been struggling with a knock and Maradona is set to replace him with Maxi Rodriguez.

Lee Dong-gook could be the only change for South Korea after recovering from a thigh injury.

Maradona said: "It was a difficult decision to leave Sebastian out because he really wants to play and of course nobody wants to miss out on the World Cup, but we have to deal with the problem of risk.

"We don't want the injury to get worse, we don't want Veron's World Cup to end. I really need him, I need Veron. I explained the reason to him and he understood perfectly well that it was the best for the team.

"If we put Veron in and once again he has a problem with his calf, like the second half against Nigeria, then we would lose him for the whole tournament."

South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo admits he and his players have drawn inspiration from the performance of their northern neighbours against Brazil as they prepare to face Argentina.

The North Koreans played with great discipline to keep Brazil at bay for 55 minutes, when only an unusual goal from an acute angle by Maicon opened the match up, with Dunga's men eventually prevailing 2-1.

He said: "I watched the game and even though they lost they were confident and did quite a good job. We talked about that with our players. Looking at it as a game between a stronger team and a weaker team it gives you a lot to think about and we reflected a lot about that and thought about what would have happened if we were in their shoes.

"So we really did reflect a lot, we were inspired in some ways and got some good ideas. We did learn a lot by watching Tuesday's game."

Source: PA