We’ve never heard of this before.
High stakes attract high levels of paranoia. Considering there are no higher stakes than the World Cup, you can do the math about the resulting paranoia.
Players and coaching staff covering their mouths while speaking to each other has become a common sight. Anything to fend off those pesky lipreaders.
However, South Korea appear to have gone one better in keeping their tactics concealed. During his press conference ahead of their opener with Sweden on Monday afternoon, head coach Shin Tae-yong revealed his bizarre method for confusing Swedish ‘spies.’
“We put four different numbers on our players’ shirts in training to confuse Swedish spies,” he said. “Europeans can’t tell our players apart by their faces.”
For context, the Swedish spies in question are not an elaborate figment of Tae-yong’s imagination. In fact, much of the pre-match focus has been on Sweden supposedly deploying members of staff to obtain knowledge of South Korea’s tactics.
🇰🇷 South Korea's coach Shin Tae-yong ahead of their game against Sweden: "We put four different numbers on our players' shirts in training to confuse Swedish spies. Europeans can't tell our players apart by their faces."#SWEKOR #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/vN9l8ehXXg
— The Sportsman (@TheSportsman) June 17, 2018
In one instance, a member of the Swedish coaching staff reportedly found his way into a closed Korean training session.
On Sunday, Sweden manager Janne Andersson apologised to South Korea following the training session incident.
“He heard about a practice session,” he said. “He didn’t understand it was a closed session. He was asked to leave and he watched from more of a distance as a result.”
“It’s very important that we show respect for opponents, always and in every way,” he said, adding that Sweden analyse every opponent. “If it has been perceived in another way, we apologise.”
The spy in question was Lars Jacobsson. Swedish media that Jacobsson rented a house near South Korea’s training camp in Austria and observed their sessions.
Andersson, however, would not be drawn on that particular allegation but Jaconsson himself openly admitted to watching Korea’s training via Reuters.
“It took a long car journey up the mountains to reach the house, but it was a perfect spot to observe the Korean team’s training,” Jacobsson said.
There were also reports in the Swedish media that a Swedish staff member rented a house near South Korea’s training camp in Austria and noted their drills. Andersson, however, would not be drawn on that particular allegation.
One of the lesser games in the opening batch of group fixtures is suddenly a lot more interesting thanks to a bizarre narrative dominating the build-up. We can only hope the game lives up to all the madness.
