It is 10:30. I am up in my office getting some work done. The wife and baby are at the in-laws watching the game. I know that Korea has not scored yet because the neighborhood has been quiet the whole game. From what I have seen in the little Yahoo live board, Korea seems to be playing a little better, but the score is still 0-0.
(Man, I hope Rob finds a real soccer fan to cover this stuff.)
10:32 Togo scored. I’m glad I’m not with anyone right now.
10:50 Halftime. Korea is still down 0-1. Check out the killer halftime show at the Big Hominid’s place.
11:06 The second half has started. Korea just got took a shot. It must have been close because the neighborhood perked up a bit for a second.
11:13 Korea Scores! Cries of Daehan minguk ring through this little corner of Ansan.
On that note, I am checking out. My work is mostly done and I need to get some housework finished before bed time. I might blog a little from home, but i might not. If I don’t, I’m sure the comments section will be active.
Final update: I made it home, started a load of laundry, rolled up the winter carpet in the office, scrubbed the floor, and put away a blanket. I’ll be hanging the laundry soon.
BTW, Korea won 2-1. I would have felt better about it if they have scored before they had the power play, but a win is a win and Korea has exactly one more of those than my team right now. Congratulations boys.
78 Comments
Whenever someone scores a goal against Korea, my downstairs neighbor lights up a smoke. Very annoying.
I can hear Shinchon, a neighborhood restaurant and some place by the Han River all broadcasting the game (and people cheering) from my pad.
If this game continues to go poorly, I hope Robert changes the blog subtitle to “Unbeaten by Togo”.
It’s the end of the first half. Korea is too tentative–Togo attacked their goal eight, nine times, they were bound to score eventually. And Lee Chun-soo is playing crappy as usual and overshooting.
It seems pretty silent outside. Maybe I’ll get some sleep after all.
BTW, who messed with the format of this site again!!??
I have not that kind of power. It is the doing of the mightly blog master.
Korea’s doing quite poorly so far. Either they are scared of these big black guys, or they forget what to do with the ball once they get close to the Togolese goal. In any event, lots of passes get lost [actually on both sides] and both goal keepers are relatively idle – even if the Togolese goal was beautiful. But that’s more a problem with the Korean defense than the goal keeper himself…
An Jeong-Hwan is now playing. Let’s see if things change.
So, guys, some reporting from the actual heartland of world soccer, Germany.
I took a half day off to watch the crappiest games of the whole tournament.
Korea plays like shit. Period.
Lee Chun-Soo kicks like his fucked up bad hairdo. Laughable.
Park Ji-Sung tries hard to make a difference, but is lacking esprit and cleverness. Like the rest of the bunch of lame nervous dorks. Geeez!
The World Cup premier team Togo (remember the pre-game chaos with their coach) are pretty composed. They deserve to lead with that goal.
I’ve seen enough. And I’ll bet my left yellow ball, that Korean ain’t win a boquet of flowers here. Time to pack the bags, Red Devils.
Clearly disappointing performance…
I’m delighted that Togo scored. It got my daughter, egged on by my wife, finally to stop with the awful Korean cheer; I was beginning to fear that her capacity for future mental and emotional growth might be stunted. It also shut up the BSD and his pals next door who are watching the game outdoors in the garden and obviated any need for me to start chanting “shut the fish mouth” through the hedge . Now I can get to sleep before anything else happens, nothing of which will wake me up.
Oh wonder, oh wonder!
One Togolese player got the red card for tackling Park. Bye, bye!
1:1, bad hair Lee shot the goal. But I’ll stand by my comment: he’s an untalented dick und looks laughable!
Shit, gotta go back in front of the TV set. It’s getting exciting …
Lest any of you doubt to the extent to which World Cup fever has enveloped the nation tonight, I offer this humble testimony:
After my public lecture downtown tonight, a bunch of us sat around having saengmaekju, then as we were walking towards Jonggak Station, we passed Jogye-sa, national headquarters of the dominant sect of Korean Buddhism, and they have a gigantic-screen TVs set up in the temple courtyard, just behind the sacred pagoda, and a couple hundred monks and commoners were gathered there! Pretty dignified and sober crowd at least…
Too bad the country wasn’t named Tojo — imagine how the cheers for that side would rankle in the ROK!
Looks like Korea is going to turn this game around. It’s 2-1 Korea right now. Looks like you can expect more cheers of Daehan Minguk for the foreseeable future. At least until they get their asses handed to them by the Frogs.
Ahn shot the 3:1 for Korea.
And what the fuck is Cha Du-Ri doing? Some announcer work for MBC? Jesus Christ.
Shoulda heard it up here in north Seoul…
Ähem, sorry, correction:
Ahn shot the 2:1 for Korea.
Ditto in northeast Seoul:
Loud crowd around the big screen in the schoolyard down the street. I might just have to buy me a red t-shirt if they keep playing like this.
If they keep playing like this they will be going home early. They did nothing in the first half and only generated offence when Togo went down one man. The defence was pourous and they made some pretty boneheaded giveaways. The only thing that saved them was Togo’s inability to finish.
On the bright side, a win is a win! It does not matter when the final whistle blows how you got there…just as long as you are there.
Ekhm. Second penalty kick…
Chickens.
Other than that, congratulations for first WC victory outside of Korea:)
well I gotta say Korea was thoroughly unconvincing in this game (final score 2-1 if anyone cares any more).
The boys in red (or lavender as our Aussie commentators liked to call it haha) played an OK last 20 minutes but I cannot work out why Ahn did not start the game, Korea couldn’t get anywhere near space in front of Togo’s goal until he ran on.
If this is the best the boys can play this is definately the last points they’ll get.
안정환 really turned things around…
Still, I am not impressed by the rest of the team.
I don’t think Ahn Jung Hwan scores the 2nd goal without Togo being 1 man short, but in the US East Coast, the local Koreans are celebrating, and it’s not Noon yet !
Lee Chun Soo is a ick, but he’s a good ick today. I love him today. Just a tie against the Swiss or the French, and they can (possibly) make the next round.
Dae Han Min Gook !
Togo got red carded? Here come the accusations that Koreans bribed the ref.
Ahn Jung Hwan was the player of the match (on ESPN). This 얼짱 never brought me down. I saw many non-Koreans wear red T-shirts; I guess 붉은 악마 gave out free T-shirts to the crowd?
Nah, the Togolese player Jean-Paul Abalo had already a yellow card in the 1st half. Than he stopped Park unfairly in the 16m-area und derserved a 2nd yellow card, which accumulates to a yellow-red card.
No, referee bribing or whatsoever.
where’s baduk? Lee Chun Soo may be an arrogant lil son-of-a-gun with a laughably bad hairstyle, but boy can he nail a free kick.
The only two players I hate scored
If they only could have won without either of them getting one….
Mixed feelings about this match. S.Korea should have won by at least a 2 goal margin against the understrength Togolese. Some of the blunders by our defenders and midfielders were quite embarrassing. The ball trapping mistakes, the passes to no one in particular, and the freebies to the other side were too frequent to be simply attributed to first game jitters. The lack of finesse and skill is readily apparent from our domestic league players. I hope our international players step up to cover for our weaknesses.
One more step close to sweet sixteen!
Good job team Korea. Hope to see better defense and offense against France.
And also hope to see Park, Chu-young’s talented play.
Dae ~Han~ Min~ Gook!!!!!
well, eventhough you can watch the game here on tv.. Koreans really made an effort to be as ONE..ahem! rented out a whole sports stadium in Manila and asked everyone to be there! It rained more than 3 times today but still everyone was there wearing RED! That’s the spirit!
btw, you’ll get a free t-shirt if you go!
nice game!
Too bad the game was too early in the morning here for me to bother with watching. At any rate, I’m glad I’m not in SK for the world cup this year. The whole pathological soccer frenzy thing didn’t impress me much back in 2002, and I can’t imagine it’ll be a whole lot better this year (well, until Korea makes its exit). On the other hand, maybe the fact that I won’t be kept up by incessant chanting might mean that I’ll actually end up rooting for Korea this world cup.
Marmot Robert, I would really help your World Cup blogging if I could. I am a Brazilian blogger lost in Korea, and I simply LOVE soccer. If you don’t mine short notes, mini-posts and this kind of stuff, of course.
By the way, what a weak team Togo is. It seems one of these last-minute arranged squad. No strategy whatsoever. Shameful.
Of course, Ahn also scored the winning goal against Italy in the last World Cup…wasn’t that the game that determined whether Korea would advance to the next round or not?
Haven’t seen the game; only read the commentary here. From the sounds of it, Korea played a pretty lacklustre game. Good for them for winning, but they’re going to have to try harder….
The Korea-Italy game in the last world cup was their round of 16 game. France also played a pretty poor game against Switzerland, ending the game with a scoreless draw and a large number of yellow cards. Unless France can rebound and actually score some goals in their next two games, it looks like it just might be Switzerland and Korea advancing out of the group, rather than Switzerland and France.
Korea definately won fairly, but the play was absolutely dire. Togo’s key player (Adebayor - Arsenal) has a ‘difficult’ personality and is roundly disliked by his team mates - tension on and off the pitch. Adding to the disarray, Togo almost played without a manager as ‘pay issues’ with the Togo FA threatened to leave the squad rudderless hours before the match. Otto Pfister ultimately turned up - and made some really odd strategic decisions. He continued to play with two strikers up front despite being down a player leaving only three in the mid-field. This allowed Korea to charge deep into the Togo half, though they usually blasted the ball from 10 yards outside the box, wasting the opportunity.
As for talent, Korea has three decent players. Ahn Jung Hwan has decent touch. Park has good speed, but lacks a strong strilker to play off. While Lee has learned some defensive technique with Tottenham this past year. But that’s about it. They just don’t have the skill they need, and unlike 2002 they’re a lot slower and less disciplined. I can’t see them winning again in this World Cup.
Bad sign 1: Lee Chun Soo’s patchy molestor mustache.
Bad sign 2: Korea couldn’t score against the worst team in the World Cup until they were reduced to 10 men.
Bad sign 3: Swiss/France tie.
Bad sign 4: The ridiculous cult of Korean cheering shows no signs of abating.
Bad sign 5: Korea’s next 2 games are going to be boring as fuck, as they play for ties.
Bad sign 6: This team looks like complete ass compared to the 02′ squad.
After the first half Korea was pretty disappointed with its squad. The yellow card was a great bonus for the team but actually Togo was new to the world cup and I would guess Advocate told the devils to not retailate.
The double yellow card from defending unfairly is part of Korea’s play. They took out the captain and were able to turn up the heat. It was just as Park said. They focused on him and Ahn was able to sneak one it. Chun soo has a great kick but had better be carful he doesn’t get yellow carded again.
He defends too wildly and that is probably why the coach and him don’t get along well. I like the blond but he is immature. Korea’s best player wasn’t even on the pitch.
They just have to tie or win so yeah in the next games Korea won’t have to risk it but I’m going to watch them. I hate that way teams play when they are ahead and just keep the ball away from the other team.
I hope they take chances and are able to score against France or Swiss.
Lee Chunsoo did a good kick and scored. But, he did some ddongball (wide miss) a couple of times. Ahn did. Lee Yulyoung did many times.
Korean players still do not have basic skills (exception: Park Jisung, Lee YoungPyo, Ahn jeongwhan). Togo looked good on the field. Passing at will and running the field. They looked a lot better. Too bad that one defender got red carded.
Korean team looked as weak and lost as the Japanese team. Koreans will be defeated by France and Swiss by a big margin. 3-0?
For next few days, just have them practice basic ball handling and passing. 2004 Team was much better at these basics. Hiddink was a better coach; he stressed the basics.
Congrats to Korea–turning around from a lackadaisical first half. Ahn Jung-hwan clearly galvanized the team, especially Park Ji-sung, but as usual they waste time passing back and forth in midfield, allowing the other team to set up its defense. Lee Chun-Soo played like crap until the penalty kick–even he looked surprised that he nailed it. They were too timid in the first half and shot blind too much.
Baduk’s right: practice the basics.
oh…the “experts” turning up, saying how bad Korea played.
To begin with: The game was REALLY crappy…
But Togo was just sooo lame…Korea could have pressured some more, even get the 3:1, but they intentionally played the game cool down to the end…they know that the next game will be harder, they need their power for France.
This is what I call TACTICS and DISCIPLINE.
On the other hand..oh my god…Had Korea anything like a defense line on the pitch ? Just unbelievable -_-
I was in the stadium, traveled 4 hours to Frankfurt to see the game, it was worth it because of more than 10.000 korean supporters…
Anyways, Korea has a good chance to get into 16gang, but they have to get a better defense -.-
Well, France and Switzerland drawed, its a GOOD sign. Switzerland was too weak to shoot the goal and France was too weak to even get near the swiss goal…So what?
This group isn’t that frightening…
The comments about the world cup on here are shocking, most of you appear not to possess even a basic understanding of the game.
“Power play”…not in football mate!!
The comments seem to be largely made be people who for whatever reason do not like Korea. I will admit that getting so excited about beating Togo is a bit OTT but then again football is a game where passion and comittment are required both from the players and fans, maybe if the US team had shown some comittment they wouldnt have got hammered by the Czechs.
Or maybe the US should have a “World Championship” where only American teams can enter….that might work!!
The draw between France and Switzerland means that Korea will probably need to beat the Swiss to advance, and that is a possibility. Having said that, the French were awful last night and it could be the Swiss and Koreans who advance.
“most of you appear not to possess even a basic understanding of the game…”
“football is a game where passion and comittment are required both from the players and fans”
Gee, thanks for enlightening us. And you threw in a nonsensical dig at the U.S. too, well done.
Your welcome Michael!!
Digs at the US or any other country are available on request, however i find that it is the Yanks who are the most sensitive to tongue in cheek comments.
this is like my 4th day on this blog site, i came across it whilst doing some research at work. I thought it was cool to see the outsider’s view on corea and its politics, since I am korean-american and most information I get about korea is from a Korean perspective, not a foreign one. but is it just me or is there an anti-korean sentiment here?
I am a KoreanAmerican myself. However, I need to call it as I see it.
Korean team stinks! Weak and stupid. Togo was a better team than Korea in passing, shooting, creating chances and running.
However, when one player got kicked out, they had to on the defensive. Even then, Korean team could not score till Ahn got a lucky goal; his shot hit a defender and got deflected, resulting in a goal.
After achieving 2-1 lead by luck (as a christian, I call it providence), Korean team could not even rotate the ball between them properly and gave about two great chances to Togo. Too bad, that Togo could not capitalize on them.
Korean team stinks. They will lose 3-0 to France and 2-1 to Swiss. Korea will not advance to the next round, top 16 team.
Korean team was lucky to beat Togo. Very lucky. From what I have seen, Togo was the better team.
“Korean team stinks.”
Yeah, but if you watched the Swiss/France game, the French also stunk the joint out. They haven’t even scored for 8 years.
Korea can beat any of these two teams. And it’s not because Korea is any good, but because the other teams are not that great.
The Swiss-France tie was a god sent gift for Korea too. This put them in a very good position. One more win and Korea goes through for sure.
to baduk: yeah, Korea was alot less impressive than I would hope they would be, but I wasn’t only referring to the World Cup comments, but the posts and comments on this blogsite in general.
as for cm, i really hope what your saying is true because everyone i’ve talked to who love Korea’s soccer team is really sad that swiss and france tied because we were all hoping that one of them would knock each other out (most people dont think korea can take either of those teams).
baduk: Korea lose to France 3-nil? They may well fall to the French but did you watch them play the Swiss? Not exactly stellar offense from Les Bleus, and some palpable tension between Zizou and the defenders. Domenech is clueless. France will be under enormous pressure to perform against Korea and recent history doesn’t bode well for them.
iheartblueballs: “Bad sign 2: Korea couldn’t score against the worst team in the World Cup until they were reduced to 10 men.”
you must be mistaken… US is in Group E, not G. You want to talk about a disastrous showing. Yikes.
i agree, togo is far from being the worst team, but france is struggling really badly offensively, but i wouldn’t count them out just yet, since korea isn’t exactly known for their defense.
I think the weakest team is Japan. They were committing harakiri on the field. Very shameful. Very destructive.
This may be what will happen at the end of upcoming China-Japan war.
Even the US team will be able to beat Japan easily.
However, Korean team may not be able to beat Japan easily. Korea will not be able to beat the US, Mexico or Iran.
If Korea plays Togo again, Korea will lose 2-0 or 3-0.
Though scoreless, the match between Swiss and France was played on a much higher level. In contrast to Korea’s actual inability in defense and offense, both European teams have enough formidable strikers, midfield directors and defenders to shoot the ROK team right back to Seoul left-footedly.
What’s missing in the Korean team are, as forementioned, basic skills like passing and ball control. Besides lacking the great fitness and spirit of 2002 with a large home crowd in the back, I can’t see a good chance to make it to the next round.
I’m happy, that they’ve won luckily against Togo. But at the same time, I want them to play decent and entertaining football on an acceptable level.
And yeah, the Czechs have teached the US boys a lesson in offensive soccer, but you’re talking about one of the best teams and World Cup trophy favorites in this tournament. The Korean performance of yesterday against a World Cup rookie from Togo was therefore clearly disappointing.
Korean Coach is an idiot, How can he have the only scorer like Ahn coming off the bench??
It goes to show how far Korea has come as a footballing nation that fans are slagging the team after a World Cup win. Granted, their performance was tepid, but three points is three points. After all, other world powers have hardly looked convincing after one match (i.e. Brazil, England). Togo is a minnow, but I would not assume that the French and Swiss will rout them. Togo is disorganized but Adebayor is dangerous and they are not wasteful with their chances.
As for the France-Swiss game being played on a “much higher level,” I beg to differ. It’s easy to assume so when you see the names of Zidane, Henry, and Makalele on the pitch, but what I saw was 90 minutes of horrendous finishing, ungainly tackling, and tactically uninteresting football. Those “formidable” strikers were absent all match, and alleged “midfield director” Vieira was nowhere to be found. Korea may have a shaky backline, but I still think the knockout rounds are a possibility against these two teams.
And yes, the Czechs are a world power, but watching the frightened US men play nervous football for 90 minutes, they’d have lost to Togo. If you want to talk about a team lacking “basic skills,” look no further than Landycakes and “Cancer” Beasley and the rest. The US will struggle to score in this WC, much less win a match. Good thing nobody in the country cares.
whoa…wait…Korea won a lucky game? I watched the whole game twice and I don’t see that. What I saw was Korea playing very badly during the first half and I thought I lost my $100 at half time.
The score with Togo should have been closer to 3-1 or 3-2 with win to Korea.
Overall, Korea had 16 shots vs Togo 9 shots, while 6 of those shots were at the goal vs Togo’s 3. Korea also owned possession of the ball 64% of the time. (In Aus-Japan, Aus only owned 52% of the time, but had 12 shots at goal vs Japan 2 shots). That’s pretty high ratio for a world cup game. If you only looked at the statistics of the game without watching the game itself, you would have predicted a score of 2-0 with Korea dominating the game. Togo got lucky that they only lost by 1 goal.
There were some pretty close moments, only because I think Korea moved up to play with 4 strikers instead of the usual 3. So defense was left to 2 defenders (sometimes 3).
Overall, I won $76. Kam sa ham nee da!
The next game, Korea-France will be exciting. The payouts now are 6-1 for Korea. Meaning if Korea wins, you win $6 for every $1. It could mean some degree of game fixing.
(France had a hard time beating China last week and China wasn’t even preparing for the world cup the score was 3-1, while Switzerland who also played China won it quite convincingly. Korea usually beats China by a 2 goal margin so there is a chance for a draw and with some fixing perhaps a win.)
Btw, here is the link to the game between France and China. The game was tied 1-1 until the 90th minute when France made it 2-1. Finally at the 92nd minute, France made it 3-1.
http://www.soccerway.com/news/.....nst-france
Note: China is not even preparing for the World Cup and nearly held France to a draw last week. So anything can happen this Sunday.
Thirsty,
I was hamming up the “Americans don’t know anything about soccer” thingy with the power play reference, but thanks for noticing.
On the other hand, I don’t know anything about soccer and could not be bothered to stay up all night to watch the USA game, which was all for the best.
Go Hurricanes!
mahathir_fan,
You are counting shots that are flying nowhere as valid shots. Koreans had 16 shots, as you say, but most of them were ddongball(shit stinkin’ nothings) which missed the goal posts by wide margin.
This is why Korean team stinks. They kick too many of these ddongballs. When they kick the ball, Korean soccer players can not maintain the balance. So, the ball rises after being hit, many times twice higher than the goal post.
You cannot count these as valid shots.
Chinese national team? Even German junior high soccer team can beat Chinese national team.
No basic skills, no strategy, no nothing.
When foreign teams visit China or Japan, they “play” with them. Usually, the second string players entertain the fans. There is big difference between real matches and friendlies.
Do you know that Korean team tied with Brazil in Seoul? The real players were in whorehouse watching the second string toying with Korean players.
They sometimes even lose big if they get paid enough.
what are you talking about baduk, if you watched the game at all, korea controlled the game for most of the second half, and in my opinion controlled most of the first half as well. the only argument against korea being the better team is that most of the second half togo was playing with ten players. if you are korean, i really have no idea what is wrong with you. you seem to despise the korean team. you are right, its good to be honest and straight forward, but theres a big difference between honesty and downright bashing.
Davelee — My two cents… It is perhaps best to observe Baduk for a while before trying to engage directly.
davelee wrote:
“this is like my 4th day on this blog site…is it just me or is there an anti-korean sentiment here?”
Let me answer your question with this example: I like my job here in Seoul, don’t want to leave it, and get paid well. However, that doesn’t stop me from having a couple of beers after work with foreign friends and bitching about my Korean co-worker, whom I refer to as Nervous Nelson for his inability to focus on anything other than the possibility of his boss getting mad at him if he does anything wrong.
In other words, just think of the comments on this blog — and on other expat-in-Korea blogs — as the normal, healthy reaction to living in a land that provides us with many challenges (and many opportunities).
Take it with a grain of salt, in other words.
Welcome aboard.
And at any rate, as negative as it can get around here sometimes, it’s nowhere near as bad as many Korean online discussion forums. Not that’s an excuse or anything.
“You are counting shots that are flying nowhere as valid shots. ”
Valid criticism. However, I am refering to people who refer to the victory as “luck”.
If you want to count valid shots at goal, then Korea had 6 valid shots at goal vs. Togo’s 3. And Korea had the ball 64% of the time. This is an EXTREMELY good number. Most international matches hover between 47% to 53%.
I do give credit to Togo for having a high number of shots at goal despite having possessed the ball so few times. If they had more possessions of ball, they could have won. It tells me that Togo may have a very good striker team(or Korea weak defense) but weak midfield(or Korea had strong midfielders) to support the strikers.
Korea’s high ball possession percentage tells me that Korea controlled the game for most of it (on average soccer game 60% of the time, the ball is played in the mid field area that’s why percentage ball possession is an indicator of midfield power), and passes well in the midfield, but its low count on shots at goal when compared to the high percentage of ball possession tells me that Korea’s strikers suck, or Togo’s defenses were too good.
My point is the stats do not tell me that Korea won it by luck. The numbers indicate that Koreans should have done better. The striker team should have done a better job at translating the opportunities created by the midfield team into more valid shots at goal. However the victory wasn’t luck. It would have been luck if Togo won. I don’t ever recall seeing a team with such low ball possesion at 36% to go on to win the game. Usually, when you have ball possesion in the 30s percent, you end up losing like 5-nil.
“When foreign teams visit China or Japan, they “play” with them. Usually, the second string players entertain the fans. ”
Baduk,
Take a look at the link I posted. France was playing with their star players in their match against China a week ago. Henry, Terequet, Zidane, and Cisse(who later broke his leg). They play in France just 7 days ago. China tied it 1-1 until the 90th minute.
” Even German junior high soccer team can beat Chinese national team.
No basic skills, no strategy, no nothing.”
The reason China doesn’t play well, is that in China soccer and gambling goes hand in hand. Its not about winning the game, but winning the bet. Soccer players train very hard and take a lot of acting lessons to feign geniune attempts at playing real soccer. Coaches arrange strategies based on how many goals they will allow other team to score, who gets the first corner kick etc. etc.
I hope Korea will win against France, but I am not putting any money on this game. It is too hard. This will be a high profile game because it involves France. Bettors will be putting money on France and bet houses will win a rainfall if Korea pulls an upset. Korea has the potential to pull an upset and there will be a lot of outside influences.
davelee,
I was so proud of 2002 Korean squad. I think 2002 Korean team won every game fair and square. I love 2002 team.
But, this 2006 squad is weak. They are careless. Just too many ddongballs. Too many mindless passes. They are not gelling as a team.
Only reason Korea won against Togo was that they played 11 players vs. 10 players. If that Togo player had not been kicked out, I am sure Togo would have won 3-1. Koreans looked scared. Even when they are leading 2-1. Koreans were afraid. Very afraid.
Very different from 2002. Korean team, then, was very confident. Very sure of their abilities. Against Spain and Portugal, Koreans believed in their team to win.
Not this team. Just wait till Sunday, France will beat Korean team, 3-0. With no energy, no teamwork and deficient basic ball-handling skills, Korean team deserves to be ass-kicked.
baduk: I’m beginning to think you are using some sort of reverse psychology in your anti-Korea analysis and predictions. First Lee Chun Soo, now this predicted 3-0 France victory… All I can say is: Keep it up!
haisan, my comments were in no way a personal attack on baduk, i just found it very intriguing that a korean would attack the korean national team in the way he does. he explained his perspective, and I guess I can understand him a bit better now. its just that from my experience with any person with korean blood running through them has alot of faith and pride in korea’s football team. this does not mean no one criticizes them, an impartial view is important so people don’t get carried away. i just didnt understand why he was attacking the team.
and whitey, thats cool. on my personal blog site, i’ve complained and vented about my workplace in korea as well. but i wasnt really referring to personal experiences, i was referring more to anti feelings towards the country itself. sort of similar to those comments about how people were saying koreans were racist towards americans, but it was never a personal issue.
Baduk is just a little pissed off that the Korean team made him sit through 20 minutes of agony of trailing behind by one zero.
There is nothing more objective than numbers. Go to:
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/.....14/mr.html
and see for yourself. Koreans played better than Togo in every aspect. Togo only had 3 real chances of getting goals. In fact, the organizers even made the mistake and played the Korean national anthem twice. They played the Korean national anthem instead of the Togo national anthem when it was their turn.
Togo best striker is kader, and kader only manage 2 shots at goal out of 5 shots. 3 others went wide. That’s 40%. In contrast, Korean strikers like Anh was average 2 out of 4 shots at goal, and Lee Chun Soo at 2 out of 2 shots at goal. Every Korean striker had a chance to shoot. While Togo, the player by the name of Adebayor did not even make one shot.
The only downside from the numbers is the low ratio of shots at goal to shots.
Korea deserved that win. The numbers speak for themselves.
The commentators are also making a mistake by claiming that this is Korea’s first win on European soil. That’s plain wrong. Korea had beaten both Portugal and Italy in the 1966 World Cup. Go check those facts. Nice going research there.
In fact, in 1966, Korea actually made it into the last 16 after their wins against Portugal and Italy on European soil. If Korea makes it again into the last 16 at this world cup, they would equal that achievement.
This reminds me of the World Baseball Classic earlier this year where Koreans thought they missed their chance at being world champions of baseball. Korea was actualy world champions of baseball in 1982 and 2nd place in 1994 and 1998. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_World_Cup
Yes indeed, mahatti-bo-batty, Korea won two games in the 1966 World Cup. NORTH KOREA, that is. m_kay?
Davelee — I never said I thought you making personal attacks. I just made a recommendation. But it’s up to you what you do.
ah, i see haisan. when you used the term “engage directly” thats how i understood it. just to let you know, i’m not here to start trouble, i only want to state my opinions, which will at some times differ with others’ opinions.
and yes, 1966 i believe was North Korea, not South Korea. I don’t think you can just say “Korea” won.
And trust me, we need all the diversity of opinion we can get.
North Korea or South Korea, it doesn’t really matter. When both countries are reunited and both sides play as one team in the future, history will remember 1966 World Cup as the first time Korea beat another soccer team on European soil and the first time Korea made it into the last 16 of the world cup. That is the BIG game and a victory for all Koreans.
its just that from my experience with any person with korean blood running through them has alot of faith and pride in korea’s football team. this does not mean no one criticizes them, an impartial view is important so people don’t get carried away. davelee
Man, that’s typical for all football fans. Constant nagging, bitching, swearing and venting anger on the own team’s performance… than jubilant joy for a win or frustration after a loss. Maybe I’m a little bit pampered by watching usually European league football and than seeing Korean players stumbling over the grass field. Sometimes it is definitely a pain for the eyes, not matter how much Korean blood is running through my veins.
mahathir_fan, it may not matter in the future, but it remains fact that SOUTH korea has never reached it.
Yep… once the Roman Empire is reunited, it won’t really matter whether it was France, Germany, or England that actually won the World Cup, we can go ahead and give Italy all the credit. After all, they’re all victories for Romans everywhere.
M_fan’s never been one to let reality get in the way of his arguments.