South Korea coach blasts Ji

Published Nov. 14, 2011 7:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

Ji, who moved to Wearside in the summer, was hauled off at half-time in his country's 2-0 weekend win over the United Arab Emirates. The 20-year-old played 85 minutes against Manchester United earlier this month with no apparent problems but Cho has criticised the striker's fitness levels. "Ji's condition was really bad," he said. "He was not good in training so I considered not to play him and he was worse in the match than I thought. So I had to replace him at half-time. "His balance is off and his shooting timing is slow. I think he's physically really poor now."