Soccer-Australia and South Korea make wholesale changes

By Julian Linden BRISBANE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Australia and South Korea have both reshuffled their lineups for Saturday's decisive Group A Asian Cup match at Brisbane's Lang Park. With both teams already assured of a place in the quarter-finals, the rival coaches took the chance to rest some of their key players on a hot and humid evening at Brisbane's Lang Park. The Australians, who only need to draw the match to top the group standings, made four changes to the team that started in Tuesday's 4-0 win over Oman, and named their third captain in as many matches. Tim Cahill, who skippered the Socceroos against Oman, was put on the bench with Tomi Juric taking his place in the run-on side at striker. Mark Milligan was named as the new captain. Another forward, Nathan Burns, was also promoted to the starting line-up, replacing Robbie Kruse. Australia coach Ange Postecoglou made one change at the back and another at midfield with Aziz Behich replacing Jason Davidson in defence and midfielder James Troisi coming in for Matthew Leckie. "The rotation of the squad is not designed to just give everyone a game. Each opponent gives us unique challenges and what we want to do is play our high energy sort of game," Postecoglou said. "To go through a tournament with just a core group of players wouldn't work. We found that out at the FIFA World Cup and we really ran out of petrol after the second game. "So the changes we make are to ensure the team we put out there can win the game." South Korea made six changes to their side that beat Kuwait 1-0 in their last outing, changing the goalkeeper, two defenders, two midfielders and adding a striker. Kim Jin-hyeon replaced Kim Seung-gyu as goalkeeper while Kwak Ta-hwi and Kim Chang-soo came in as defenders for Cha Du-ri and Jang Hyun-soon. Koo Ja-cheol and Han Kyo-won were both added to the midfield while Lee Jeong-hyeop came in as striker. "We have to win to be first, a draw is good enough for Australia," South Korea coach Uli Stielike said. "But if you aim to beat Australia at home, it will give you the conviction that you can go far in this tournament. "That's why we have to do everything for the victory." Lineups: Australia - Mat Ryan; Ivan Franjic, Trent Sainsbury, Matthew Spiranovic, Aziz Behich; Mark Milligan, Matt McKay, Massimo Luongo, James Troisi; Nathan Burns, Tomi Juric South Korea - Kim Jin-hyeon; Kwak Tae-hwi, Kim Chang-soo, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su; Park Joo-ho, Ki Sung-yueng; Koo Ja-cheol, Han Kyo-won, Lee Jeong-hyeop; Lee Keun-ho. (Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)