London Korean Links

Aashish Gadhvi has some issues to get off his chest about the state of Korean football.

Its time to face facts, people. The golden generation is finished. The players are all overpaid, high-ego celebrities with more money than talent. The fans don’t get behind the team and no manager in their right mind would take the vacant position. Now enough about England, let’s talk about Korea.

Over the past few days both Mick McCarthy (above left) and Gerrard Houllier (above right) have turned down the vacant managerial position of the South Korean national team, and this has led to the Korean team being something of a joke amongst factions of the English media. They claim that the Korean national team is a shadow of its former self and takes itself far more seriously than it should. It’s almost as if the very idea of Gerrard Houllier being offered the job was sheer wishful thinking. Let me start by saying this: the state of Korean football is on the downward spiral at present. The National team underachieved during the Asian Cup, attendances at K-League matches are low and key players have been banned for drunken antics. As the team is in a transitional stage, the young players who are now coming into the team are not really shining as most had hoped. But, I would not say that the poor media treatment of Korean football is merited at all.

Seol Ki-hyeon (Fulham)

Korea has a relatively young football history, although it is one of the longest in Asia. Although the national team has been playing since the late 40s, the K-League has only been around since the 80s. Therefore it would be naïve for anyone to compare the K-League to the English Premier League. But nevertheless there have been those crazy enough to do so. Claims that the top scorers in the K-League consist of every nationality except one or two Koreans are the hands-down truth. But last season’s English Premiership top 11 goal-scorers consist of only 2 Englishmen, the exact same number of Koreans in the top 11 K-League goal-scorers of last season.

Of course the K-League does not compare to the Premier League in terms of attendance, but the two countries differ immensely on football views. In England, the Premier League only took off as a result of privatisation under the Thatcher era. Even then, it took time for football to become something that was ‘fashionable’, compared to the grimy reputation it had in the 80s, when attendances were low and hooliganism was what the stands were most known for. There are also two very different schools of thought between Korea and England concerning support in football. In England, club comes before country. In Korea country comes before everything. Yes, the 2002 World Cup had a lot to do with nationalism, and maybe the love for the country did overshadow the love for the game, but at least the love for the country was there for all to witness. Every man, woman and child got behind the Korean team in 2002, and the team responded. In England the fans and media love to hate. In some ways they love failure as it gives them something to moan about in the newspapers. Koreans may be guilty of blind nationalism, but the English are in no doubt guilty of blind destruction.

Lee Dong-gook (Middlesborough)

On the subject of the attendances, I would not say that having a larger attendance generally means having better support. The last two football matches I attended were Korea v Greece, back in February, and the recent European Championship qualifier between England and Estonia. The handfuls of Korean fans in Craven Cottage were screaming their lungs out from start to finish. At Wembley stadium, amongst nearly 90,000 people, you could hear a pin drop. There were even chants of “We’re supposed to be at home” from sections of the England fans. The Koreans have a culture of getting behind the country. Even if it was a chess match you would probably hear ‘DAE-HAN-MIN-KUK’ from sections of the crowd. With England, sing when you’re winning, and otherwise keep your mouth shut. Take the chaotic match against Croatia: all you could hear were Croatians. Yes, the Koreans are more into the country than the sport, but at least they are there in their numbers making noise and getting behind the team. I also fail to concede to the point that people make, that the 2002 World Cup was a one-off and the Koreans wouldn’t show that kind of enthusiasm again. Need I remind anyone who the most enthusiastic supporters in the 2006 World Cup (apart from hosts, Germany) were?

The final point I would like to comment on is the Koreans playing in England. I think this is one of the most ill-treated stories that anyone can pick on to highlight the failure of Korean football. Yes, Koreans have not really made a mark on the Premiership, but let’s look at the facts why. Seol Ki-hyeon and Lee Dong-gook are struggling at the moment at their respective clubs. Maybe this is my opinion, but I believe Seol did very little wrong to be sold at Reading. Although the reasons for his exit have been a bit blurred, with many pointing out that Seol was the one who wanted to leave, he was not getting first team football, which he deserved. Lee Dong-gook however, for me, is a tragic injustice. Lee Dong-gook is held very highly in the hearts of Koreans for his heroics for the national team, and his journey to Middlesbrough seemed a dream come true for him to fulfil his potential. Only one problem: he hardly ever played. He made under 20 appearances for Middlesbrough, scoring just 1 goal. However, hardly any of those appearances were full games, with most of them being coming on as a substitute. What is failed to mention is how he did play well every time he came on, making good runs and creating great space, and should have won a penalty against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a crucial game late last season.

Lee Young-pyo (Spurs)

Middlesbrough have now expressed their desire to offload Lee. To make matters worse, Lee even expressed his discontent at not playing enough football, and his desire was to get more football in to adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premier League. Didier Drogba took a whole year to adjust to the Premier League, and Andrei Shevchenko still hasn’t adapted to it. Yet Lee Dong-gook is supposed to perform miracles while being a substitute, and has been shown the back door now that he hasn’t performed. Absolute nonsense. Although his banning for drinking during the Asian Cup is inexcusable, his treatment at Middlesbrough has been almost as bad. Lee Young-pyo and Park Ji-sung however are interesting cases. Neither have really played badly for their clubs, and Park in particular was in sublime form before his injury, but since then neither look likely to be permanent fixtures in the team as both clubs have signed higher profile flamboyant players who play in their positions. Park may never play for Man United again now that Nani and Anderson are touting his position. Why is it that he will most likely receive the chop? Call this controversial, but my firm belief is that Asian players are simply not respected and are under far more scrutiny than others. If an Asian player plays slightly off-form he will receive the chop almost 100% of the time. Asians have to put in more effort to simply stay on the bench. No wonder they are an endangered species.

Korean football is in a very dangerous position at the moment. North Korea made a tremendous showing at the 1966 World Cup, then dropped off the edge of the world. The KFA have to make sure that the same does not happen to the 2002 semi-finalists. Korea need to qualify for the World Cup. They need to at least get to the final of the Asian Cup. Maybe Korea will never truly be a world-beating team in our lifetime, but is being the grand-daddy of Asian football really too much to ask? More importantly, the Korean people need to get behind the team and show everyone that 2002 isn’t a one off. I personally believe that Korean football can be better compared to Indian cricket. When they’re on form they can shock anyone, but most of the time they underachieve. The national game is far more important than the local games, and enthusiasm needs to be carefully nurtured. The KFA do have the potential to be the BCCI ^[1] of football (the Indian cricket Board is the richest in the world, down purely to the fans’ enthusiasm of media consumption) and the evidence is in 2002. The best thing that the new manager can do is get results. Results mean success, and in a country where success means life or death, nothing can draw more people into supporting the teams, whether it be local or national. The writing is on the wall for Korean football. Now we just need the Korean people to fill in the blanks and prove to the rest of the world that Korean football is not a laughing stock.

Park Ji-sung (Manchester United)

1. That’s Board of Control for Cricket in India, not Bank of Credit and Commerce International[back]

Aashish Gadhvi analyses the performance of the Red Devils in the recent Asian Cup

The 2007 AFC Asian Cup passed under the eyes of the world’s media almost unnoticed, probably down to David Beckham’s summer transfer to LA Galaxy. Barring the sensational victory by Iraq, which made headline news, the tournament was hard to track down without the aid of the internet on this side of the globe. Neverthless, some hardcore Asian football fans, such as myself, were following it from day one, and it has to be said, this was one of the most exciting Asian Cups in recent memory. Then again, for those in the know, Asian football is always exciting!

The Korean Campaign

Korea had an indifferent run leading up to the Asian Cup. They beat Uzbekistan, Iraq and even Greece in the run in, but also suffered chaotic defeats to Uruguay and Holland on their own home turf. Nevertheless, they entered the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the Asia Cup, something they haven’t done since 1960, but have fallen at the final hurdle on three separate occasions.

Korea were placed in Group D along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and co-hosts (along with Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) Indonesia. On paper it would seem like a mere toss up between who would finish first and second between Korea and the Saudis, but as events transpired, nothing could be further from the truth. In true football fashion, this became the surprise group of death, thanks to Korea being handed a giant-killing defeat at the hands of Bahrain (2-1).

After scrapping out a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia, the Koreans expected to hand Bahrain a thrashing in no more than a training match, but a 2-1 defeat to a team who had never previously beaten Korea was nothing short of embarrassing. After starting the game well with a goal from Kim Do-Heon in the 4th minute, Korea then tried to play keep ball and ground out the rest of the match. But grinding out a result is one things that the Koreans aren’t good at, and the defence collapsed spectacularly, handing the Bahrainis 2 goals on a plate, one on the stroke of half time and one 5 minutes from time.

The Koreans needed a victory against Indonesia and had to hope Saudi Arabia would beat Bahrain. One side of the equation worked out, as the Saudis thrashed Bahrain 4-0. Korea however, scraped through another nail biting 1-0 victory against Indonesia. Although this would seem like underachievement, the close score line was down to the fierce fighting spirit of the Indonesians, determined not to go down without a fight in front of 90,000 of their fans.

With Korea scraping through the group, many expected them to bow out at the quarter-finals, as they were pitted against three-time champions Iran, the same team who knocked them out in a 4-3 thriller in the last Asian Cup. But the Koreans failed to score throughout the match and the defence held itself to take the match to penalties which they won 4-2, avenging the defeat of the last tournament.

In the semis they came up against surprise package Iraq, who they had beaten 3-0 in a warm up match prior to the tournament. Incredibly, Korea were again unable to score and the match once again went to penalties, but this time the Koreans failed from the spot and lost 4-3. However this set up a third/fourth place play off against old rivals Japan. Incredibly Korea again failed to score, but also to concede and yet another penalty shootout was on the cards, but a sweet victory for a 10-man Korea was in the offing, as Korea won 6-5 on penalties to finish third place.

The Goal Problem

Sceptics of Asian football would probably pull on the fact that Korea finished third while only scoring three goals in the entire tournament. Although they finished third, this tournament was disappointing for the Koreans, in particular the unpredictable nature of the team throughout. They collapsed defensively against Bahrain, but also couldn’t hit the back of the net through the knockout stages. Many people would probably argue that the absence of Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo, Seol Ki-hyun and Kim Nam-il contributed to the lack of goals, however an attack boasting Lee Chun-soo, Cho Jae-jin and Lee Dong-Gook is surely more than enough to grab some goals? In my opinion there is no excuse for the goal drought. The players available were more than capable of scoring goals.

One of the possible reasons for the goal drought could be because of the tactics. Korea tend to favour playing 4-3-3, but the way the formation is formed turns more into 4-5-1, often leaving Cho Jae-jin up front by himself, which is a recipe for disaster. Although Cho is a talent in the J-Leauge, the ‘miracle man’ has been more than short of miracles in the Korean national team. Some have even argued that he is in the team for his commercial power rather than his football ability. Until he starts scoring some goals, the argument of whether he belongs on a poster or a pitch will continue.

Although Lee Dong-Gook is the type of player who can play by himself, his recovery from injury and his recent move to Middlesbrough may have taken their tole on the man who is second in the list of all-time goal scorers in this competition. The most disappointing player of all however was Lee Chun-soo. A player more unpredictable than the National Lottery, Lee Chun-soo is slowly garnering the ‘lazy-genius’ tag that was once labelled on Lee Dong-Gook. He may claim that he’s better than David Beckham, which in all honestly he probably is, but Lee’s consistency drops and rises like a bungee rope. Lee Chun-soo is very close to being the best Korean player of the lot, even better than Park Ji-sung, which makes it all the more frustrating to see him put in displays like this.

There’s only one Lee Woon-jae

For all the inconsistencies of the new generation, it is refreshing to see the old guard putting in fantastic performances, like Lee Woon-jae, easily Korea’s man of the tournament. At 34, ’spider-hands’ is still leading the way in putting himself on the line for the sake of the team. Highlights of his guts were the bottle he kept in the penalty shootouts, and his now famous ‘miracle save’ against Japan. Many argued that the Koreans failed simply because they don’t take this tournament that seriously compared to the World Cup, but Lee Woon-jae takes great pride in playing whenever he puts on the Korean shirt, which shows in his displays. However Lee was unable to stop Iraq in the semi-final, who surely deserve the final word. Such was the event of Iraq winning the tournament, that the unity it brought for that brief moment back home made headline news. Even Lee Woon-jae was unable to stop Iraq from winning the tournament. The Gods it seemed, for once, were smiling on Iraq.

All photos from the official website of the AFC Asian Cup site or Footcoréen.com