No Time to Acclimate to High Altitude, But "We Will Stop Son Heung-min"

[Anchor]

The Czech Republic, our opponent in the first match, arrived in the battleground of Guadalajara today (June 11). Both the Czech head coach and players praised our captain Son Heung-min, while expressing confidence that they could stop him.

Pyeon Gwanghyeon reports from Mexico.

[Reporter]

The Czech team left their base camp in Dallas, USA, early in the morning and arrived in Guadalajara only this afternoon, just one day before the first match.

They immediately held an official press conference to begin their first schedule at the match site.

Head coach Koubek, who led the Czech Republic to the World Cup stage for the first time in 20 years, expressed his wariness of our captain Son Heung-min while also showing trust in his players.

[Koubek/Head Coach of the Czech National Football Team: Son Heung-min is a world-renowned player. However, our players have sufficient ability to stop the Korean players.]

The players, who took part in their first and only training session in Guadalajara, feel the same way.

In particular, veteran Soucek, who has faced Son Heung-min 11 times in the Premier League, emphasized team organization.

[Soucek/Czech National Football Team Midfielder: The player we need to be most wary of is Son Heung-min. Of course, we will face not just Son, but the entire Korean team as a unit.]

In contrast to our national team, which has been acclimating to the high altitude for three weeks since the pre-tournament camp, the Czech team had almost no time to adjust to the new environment, yet they did not hide their confidence.

[Koubek/Head Coach of the Czech National Football Team: (Because we prepared for the high altitude despite the unfavorable conditions) I do not have any negative thoughts that we are at a disadvantage.]

With the die cast, the forecast of rain during tomorrow's match time is also expected to be a variable in this "fateful first match."

(Reported by Hwang In-seok | Video by Park Gi-deok)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.