Moments after South Korea clinched a knockout berth in men's football at the Asian Games on Thursday, head coach Hwang Sun-hong kept things close to the vest when it came to deploying his biggest weapon.
South Korea cruised past Thailand 4-0 to secure the top seed in Group E at Jinhua Sports Centre Stadium in Jinhua, southwest of the main host city, Hangzhou.
It was South Korea's second straight victory, on the heels of a 9-0 trouncing of Kuwait. And they have won both matches without the services of Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Lee Kang-in, considered South Korea's most gifted offensive player.
Lee arrived in China just hours before the Thailand match, having played in a UEFA Champions League group stage match in Paris on Tuesday.
Given Lee's long flight and recent recovery from a left quadriceps injury, Lee was not available against Thailand.
Lee, the most valuable player of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, could potentially play against Bahrain on Sunday, a stress-free match with nothing at stake for South Korea. But Hwang wouldn't commit one way or the other.
"I have to see how the player feels," Hwang said, responding to a question on when Lee would make his Asian Games debut. "I think it's too premature to talk about that at the moment. I will make that decision after going over several different factors."
Lee watched the Thai match from the stands. During the warmup, Lee chatted with Hwang on the bench for about 20 minutes.
"We got to exchange our opinions. We've set a clear goal for ourselves, and we talked about what we need to do to accomplish that," Hwang said. "Lee Kang-in offered his thoughts. We may have different ideas in some areas, and it's important for us to share those thoughts. I think we found a lot in common in the end."
South Korea, chasing an unprecedented third straight gold medal in men's football, will move on to the round of 16 regardless of the result against Bahrain. Hwang insisted it was no time to celebrate anything.
"It's nice to reach the knockouts but until we win the gold medal, we cannot feel satisfied," the coach said. "I think we played a bit too loose in the second half, and I wasn't pleased with that. We have to maintain our intensity and focus for the whole 90 minutes. We have to address that going forward."
Source: Yonhap News Agency