JAKARTA, July 16 - The loss of Park Ji-sung has been a key factor in South Korea's struggles at the Asian Cup and coach Pim Verbeek fears the Manchester United winger may be fighting to save his career.

South Korea's head coach Pim Verbeek from the Netherlands directs his players during a training session in preparation for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament in Jakarta July 12, 2007. [Reuters]

The 2002 World Cup semi-finalists, one of the pre-tournament favourites, sit bottom of Group D following a draw with Saudi Arabia and heart-breaking last minute loss to Bahrain.

Even a win against Indonesia in their final group game may not be enough to secure a quarter-final spot.

Dutchman Verbeek said the absence of English Premier League trio Park, Seol Ki-hyeon and Lee Young-pyo had hit them hard.

"You cannot replace players like Park Ji-sung and Seol Ki-hyeon," he told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

"They play in the English Premier League. Now I have players that play in the K-League in Korea so it's difficult to ask the same level of performance from them."

Verbeek was unaware of reports that Park, who had knee surgery in the United States in April, would be out of football until January 2008.

"From what I've heard, his knee is not in good condition for a 25-year-old football player," he said.

"To save his career it's probably better for him to take more time to recover. This is very bad for him and very bad for Korean football."

STILL ADVANCE

South Korea, one of the traditional powerhouses of Asian soccer, have a poor recent record in the Asian Cup, an event they have not won for 47 years.

But Verbeek insisted Group D was still wide open and that his team had as good a chance as any of making the next round.

"Never did I think we would have one point from two matches, but the good news is that we can still advance.

"We are good enough to beat Indonesia, good enough to make the semi-finals and good enough to win the Asian Cup," he said.

Verbeek's only regret is that he should not have brought the players to Indonesia early to prepare.

The state of the training facilities in the Indonesian capital has infuriated coaching staff at the Asian Cup, with Bahrain coach Milan Macala labelling them a "disaster".

"We wasted a lot of time by doing nothing here because the field was so bad we couldn't do anything," lamented Verbeek.

"There's no good pitches, the ball is bouncing everywhere, its dangerous for injuries. That's the only regret I have. We lost three or four training days because we came early to prepare."