Wow…. does Mr. Lee play for Korea, or for the Confederate States of America? Unfortunately, somehow I don’t think that staring at the African players and trying to insult them in broken English will work all that well.

France will take bloody revenge for their tournament disaster 2002 in Korea.

The Swiss guys have a nice, devoted team. Typically mid-European-standard, which means for the rest of the world pretty high standard soccer.

Togo is some kind of a blank sheet of paper. African players a talented and gifted solo artists, dunno how they perform as team players. With a disciplined strategy they can surprisingly beat everbody in this tournament…

That’s the exciting point of the World Cup: nobody knows the outcome for sure.
My favorites: Chech Republic or the Netherlands.

I hope you are right that the SK players don’t have confidence issues, but it really wouldn’t be surprising. Park Ji Sung and Lee Young Pyo are good, but they were not “stars” of Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspurs. Park Ji Sung scored like 2 goals and about 7 assists this season. And the assist figures are inflated because if you pass to Wayne Rooney, that is what people call “assist.” I hear that Lee Eul Yong is doing well, but that gives SK team 3 players that has tested themselves and prevailed in international leagues. Let’s say that Park JS, Lee YP, Lee EY, Ahn JH, Park JY all have inflated egos and have no confidence issues. That’s 5 players out of a team of 11. (not counting bench warmers) OK. Lee Chun Soo is also cocky so let’s say that only 5 players from K-league/J-league *could* have confidence issues. Those 5 players represent the Korean defence! 1 goalie, 3 backs, and 1 midfielder. These guys have to face Henry/Adebayor a mano a mano. I hope to God that these the defenders have an uber inflated ego, because I’ve seen what Arsenal can do. But we know from reports that the Korean defense have been having problems.

It just seems like everybody is saying what the Korean Football Association wants them to say. “Yes watch us play soccer, we won’t let you down.”

French and Swiss are dedicated to wining no matter what Korean players say. You can’t fire them up any more by making grandiose remarks. Only an condescending gesture from a legitimate rival can do that, and I don’t think the French or the Swiss thinks of the Korean national team as rivals. Togo on the otherhand…

Whatever your opinion of Korean journalism, the quotes were not taken from a sports daily, but from the JoongAng Daily, perhaps the best of what is, admittedly, a very poor bunch.

I don’t think this is a simple either/or between bravado and focusing on your weaknesses. All it requires is for the players to trot out the usual platitudes like, “It could have been worse, and I think it’s a good draw for us. We will have very difficult games, but the way we are playing at the moment we will also be difficult to beat,” which Dick Advocaat said following the draw. There is no better way to gee up your opposition than publically saying you are going to be beat them. And you can be sure that Korea’s first round opponents will be listening to what Park and Lee have to say.

I’m not so sure that Korea’s players have serious confidence issues either. In Park and Lee, they have two excellent players coming off the back of acclaimed seasons with two of England’s best clubs, Lee Eul-yong is doing well in Turkey, and Park Chu-young is, apparently, a player of great promise (although Seol Ki-hyeon is pony). Add to that a highly respected and successful coach and you have genuine grounds for optimism.

Besides what possible controversy can Lee Young Pyo or Park Ji Sung generate when noone listens to what they say anyway outside Korea? These guys don’t have the international ears of say David Beckham. Despite some of the prepsoterous expectations in print, very few Koreans will be genuinely surprised if they don’t make “16″.

Seriously, if Korea gets eliminated at Round 1, there is no humiliation factor. Same is not true for WC contender England. If England gets eliminated at Round 1, people will be going on and on comparing England to France 2002.

Park & Lee must be doing what Zico did. SK team probably have serious confidence issues. Afterall these guys are professional players who watch the same French/Swiss/Arsenal games that we watch too. Some cheerleading do-or-die attitude plus luck is what that team needs. If they go in their focusing on their obvious weaknesses, they will never win. Especially since it is at this point, impossible to fix their obvious weaknesses. No amount of practice in 1 month time will turn Ahn Jung Hwan into Wayne Rooney. Screw Wayne Rooney, he won’t turn into C Ronaldo during his worst of plays. Tell the junior Korean defenders they can stop Henry. You do that and they might put up a fight. Tell them the truth and they’ll just give up.

“We will beat Togo,” said Lee Young-pyo of the English Premier League Tottenham Hotspur, referring to the first match June 13 against Togo. “We know how to deal with African players.”

Hmmm. I wonder what’s going to be plastered on the wall of the Togo dressing room for the opening game with Korea.
And…

At a joint press conference, Park Ji-sung, the team’s midfielder who plays for Manchester United of the English Premier League, said the team had no weaknesses to improve. He said the key to victory was teamwork.
“In soccer, it’s not only the striker attacking or the defender playing defense. How the 11 players do on both sides of the ball is important. There is nothing special that we have to work on,” Park said.

“No weaknesses”??!! “Nothing to improve”??!! It seems Lee and Park have missed out on learning perhaps the strongest element of the English game: giving a cliched interview answer that avoids the slightest hint of insight or controversy. Next time, guys, just say, “There are no easy games at this level.” Or better still, “We’re just taking each game as it comes.”

I don’t see the Japanese making the sort of grandiose claims for their team’s progress that a lot of Koreans are making for theirs, so they don’t have as far to fall. Highting!