Aware that Sweden will pose a stiff challenge and chances could be at a premium, head coach Shin Tae-yong has had his players working on set-pieces behind closed doors.
This has been ongoing since Shin named the 23-player squad and such is his desire for the element of surprise that the Korea Republic coach decided against using any of the set-pieces in the friendly against Senegal last week, despite it being played behind closed doors.
Defender Jang Hyun-soo (pictured below, left), said the players are memorising the moves even in their free time.
According to the FC Tokyo centre-back, a paper detailing their moves in set-piece situations is attached to the walls of their rooms at the team hotel and in the physical therapy room so that the players can have a better understanding of their roles in set-pieces.
"I think set-pieces will be our strength," said Jang. "We've really prepared a lot, and the players mostly talk about football even in our free time.
"We're not trying new things but focusing on the plays that we've been preparing."
According to team officials, the Korea Republic players have been practicing intensively and working on their moves to meet crosses from free-kick or corner kick situations, although they declined to reveal which player is the key.
Korea Republic's tallest player is Kim Shin-wook (pictured below), who stands at 1.97 metres. He has already scored two goals with headers from set-piece situations under Shin's helm.
Centre-back Oh Ban-suk is listed at 1.89m, while Jung Seung-hyun is 1.88m, but the two are unlikely to start.
What is known is Korea Republic's free-kick takers.
Son Heung-min and Jung Woo-young are the two right-footed free-kick takers, while Lee Jae-sung and Kim Young-gwon will step up when the team need left-footed set-piece takers.
Captain Ki Sung-yueng, who is also known for his middle-range strikes, will take the team's penalty kicks.
After Sweden, Korea Republic play Mexico (June 23) and defending champions Germany (June 27).
Sources: Yonhap, AFP
