South Korea's national football team completed its second day of training after arriving in Mexico.
The team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, trained at Chivas Valle Verde in Zapopan near Guadalajara, Mexico, on Saturday.
A day earlier, the team had trained in front of local fans during a FIFA-organized "community training" session. From this day, the team began its full-fledged program preparing for the match against the Czech Republic.
The training time was moved to the morning. The change came because afternoon showers have become frequent in the Guadalajara region.
The decision was based on the judgment that rain makes intensive training difficult and that a sharp drop in body temperature could complicate condition management.
After running, the Taegeuk Warriors carried out agility drills and other exercises in turn under the guidance of the physical coaching staff, with little trace of smiles on their faces.
The previous day's training was fully open for more than an hour and a half, but on this day only the first 15 minutes were open to the media.
The team plans to conduct intensive training for three days through Tuesday. Hong, who appeared at a press conference the previous day, also emphasized the remaining three days of training, saying, "We will identify several necessary points and raise our level of completion."
Along with the players' expressions, the mood of the local Mexican press, who will face Korea in the group stage, also changed. When the team's press officer announced that Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City) and Lee Tae-seok (Vienna) would again be unable to complete normal training on this day, as on the previous day, Mexican reporters latched onto Korean journalists, pressing them with questions such as "What did they just say?" in an effort to grasp even a single detail about Korea's lineup.
Bae Jun-ho, who injured his ankle on a deep tackle in the match against Trinidad and Tobago (a 5-0 win) and had been excluded from training, again worked separately on his own to build up his condition this day.
Lee Tae-seok, who has discomfort in his left calf, also was unable to complete normal training.
They were also very curious about the condition of Son Heung-min (LAFC), who did not score many goals for his club in the first half of the year.
