4 nations in Group H begin race for World Cup

Now the race is in full swing.

Team Korea led by Coach Hong Myung-bo has started its last-minute training sessions in earnest to gain the upper hand at this year’s World Cup succor finals in Brazil. The team conducted a closed training session on Friday, trying to adjust and fine tune tactics. Rival countries are also accelerating their drives. Belgium, Russia, and Algeria that also belong to Group H with Korea completed assembly of team members and have begun their training sessions in full swing.

Belgium became the second to assemble its players after Korea. Seventeen of the 24 players on the team’s preliminary roster got together and kicked off training sessions in Genk, Belgium on Tuesday. Players who are participating at the UEFA Champions League finals, including Thibaut Courtois, the goalie from Atlético de Madrid, will join the team after Sunday. On Monday, when all of its players will join, the team will shift its training camp to Stockholm, Sweden. As temperatures in Sweden stay at around 22 degrees Celsius, a level similar to that in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the team is on adaptation training in the northern European nation. Belgium will hold friendly matches with Luxemburg and Sweden in succession, before returning to Belgium on June 3. The team will engage in training in Knokke Heist until June 10, when it will depart for Brazil. Belgium will hold a third exhibition game in Knokke Heist on June 8. Belgian coach Marc Wilmots said, “We constantly change the venue of our trainings because staying at a single place for a long time could negatively affect players.”

All 25 members on the Russian team’s preliminary roster gathered in Moscow and started training on Thursday. Russian coach Fabio Capello failed to participate in the training on the first day due to influenza. With assistant coaches supervising the training, the team only disclosed its exercise for 20 minutes, trying hard to keep its performance and capability under wraps. Russia will conduct training sessions and hold three friendly matches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia and Oslo, Norway, before arriving in Brazil on June 9.

The Algerian news agency "Algeria Press Service" reported on Friday that “As Yacine Brahimi (Granada) and Saphir Sliti Taïder (Inter Milan) joined the training camp in Sidi Mussa, Algeria on Thursday, 25 players of the team started training together.” On Friday next week, Algeria will run its training camp in Switzerland, where it will hold friendly matches with Armenia and Romania. Of the four teams in group H, this team will be the first to arrive in Brazil on June 7, and hold another friendly match there.