South Korea must play through 'pain' to beat Australia - Klinsmann

DOHA : South Korea may have had two fewer rest days than Australia before their titanic clash in the Asian Cup quarter-finals but going through such "pain" is necessary if the team is to win a major tournament, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Thursday.

Australia beat Indonesia 4-0 in their last-16 tie on Sunday while South Korea played 120 minutes against Saudi Arabia before prevailing on penalties late on Tuesday, giving Klinsmann's side only two days to recover before their quarter-final.

"Rest days are what it is, you accept it and move on. Now we are ready for this huge game and we're very hungry," Klinsmann told reporters.

"If you want to go through in a knockout phase of a big tournament, you have to be ready to suffer. You have to deal with pain because we got banged up in the last game and that's normal.

"It's normal and the players play this way in their club teams. Many of them play in Europe every three or four days, so no problem."

South Korea striker Cho Gue-sung said the lack of adequate rest could be a factor, but experience and mentality would be key.

"A lot of my team mates have plenty of experience... But I think at this moment in the tournament, it's more about mentality than physicality," said Cho, who scored a late equaliser to take the game against Saudi Arabia to penalties.

"The reality is I think mentality plays a bigger role now and we're just focused on achieving what we want to achieve.

"Australia is a very strong team, very solid in defence. They're very physical and they're big, but we have our strengths. There's no pressure on us, we have plenty of qualities, we have speed up front with very quick players."

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On the other hand, Australia coach Graham Arnold said the four-day rest period allowed