I’m sure Dave will give full coverage soon.
France went up early and laid on the defense. It was looking bleak for our heroes until they found a way to penetrate the French Maginot Line and equalize. It ended in a tie.
On a side note, many of the students at my college are heading to their exams today bleary-eyed. I guess my school did not get the memo.
While I am roughly on the subject, check out this piece bemoaning the ‘gentrification’ of the World Cup:
When the Argies — sorry, Argentina — lift the trophy on July 9, the tournament will indeed be remembered for their wonderful, flowing football, but also for its newly acquired and rather self-conscious rectitude. The year that players were stopped from tackling each other, so that the “nice” things about football — moppety, pouting Latinos with Alice bands blithely skipping through challenge after challenge — can flourish. And a complete absence of animus towards foreigners, no matter how irritating they might be.
You can tell football has cleaned up its act by the extraordinary proportion of women in attendance. A few years back, the only women at World Cup matches were those awful Brazilian hags baring their breasts while executing a samba — and one or two grim-faced munters from Derby or Bolton in XL England shirts howling vituperative abuse in the manner of those tricoteuses who gather outside the law courts when a kiddie-fiddler is on trial…
But football without the gritty tackling ends up a bit like basketball, a silky, rapid, unhindered canter from penalty area to penalty area — which is what we witnessed in Argentina’s beautiful demolition of Serbia & Montenegro. Prohibited from playing their normal game and penalised every time they attempted to, the Serbs simply succumbed. The point of closing down players is to eventually put your foot in and harry the opposition attackers off the ball, but you’re not allowed to put your foot in any more, so the closing-down process becomes almost pointless.
There is certainly a cultural difference here. For many Americans, soccer is the sport you play when your momma doesn’t want you to get hurt playing (American) football. Things are clearly different in England.
UPDATE (from Robert): Korea, in my mind anyway, did a very respectable job in earning their point this morning, albeit it against a less-than-overwhelming French side that certainly didn’t deserve to win. But enough with my ignorant drivel—read the minute-by-minute by The Guardian:
Full time! France 1 Korea 1 That was an astonishing end to a largely appalling game. France were good in the first half, when they led by a fine Henry goal (Vieira also scored but it was Roy Carrolled by the linesman), but they faffed about lamentably in the second and were punished by Ji-sung Park’s late equaliser. It was all extremely surreal, and I have no idea how France did not win that game, though the fact they are rubbish and bottlers assuredly did not help.
Coincidentally, I thought this was funny, courtesy the JoongAng Ilbo’s Niels Footman:
The 2006 World Cup has arrived, bringing with it the equally amusing sights of delirious Korean fans and a phalanx of American “K-bloggers” struggling manfully to pretend that they a) know and b) care about “soccer.”
Cute.
UPDATE 2: Uh, someone tell Henry to shut the hell up:
With the goal open, Henry put the ball too close to South Korea goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae, leaving France with a 1-1 draw after Park Ji-sung equalized. “The Koreans were not dangerous, and we conceded a silly goal,” Henry said. “But on the other hand, we had a chance to win the match. It’s very annoying because we created chances, and worked hard up front.”
Oh, and the big news here in the ROK at the moment is that the official FIFA game report says Korean keeper Lee Woon-Jae managed to keep Patrick Vieira’s header in the 30th minute from crossing the goal line.
64 Comments
Just to comment on The Times piece:
Well, perhaps at The Times its like that. The Guardian, on the other hand, is a different story—see their coverage of the Australia-Japan match for example.
i read a recap article that included “as the japs ran out of energy due to their kamikaze-style of play, the aussies hopped around like kangaroos. the japs went on to lose 3-1, and proceeded to commit sepukku.”
What happens if the Swiss and French both beat Togo by one and Korea ties the Swiss? Hopefully an archery or ping pong contest.
Whoa, congrats Korea!
This was BTE, ya gotta say…
Just don’t say the Koreans were “so mad, they went home and kicked their dogs, then ate them!” Joking about dog-eating gets you branded Public Enemy No. 1, and denounced as an ignorant sumbitch by Korea’s Prime Minister. Oh yeah, and .
The best part of that flap, in my opinion, was Kim Jong-Pil complaining about “no consideration for other people’s feelings.” Classic.
Thorin,
I prefer your idea to the sensible rules Fifa has put in place. I personally think a drinking contest should be used if they are tied.
If two or more teams are level on points, positions will be determined as follows:
a - Greatest number of points obtained in all group matches.
b - Goal difference in all group matches.
c - Greatest number of goals scored in all matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
d - Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned .
e - Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned .
f - Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned .
g - Drawing of lots by the organising committee for the Fifa World Cup
another miraculous goal keeps the flame of Korean nationalism alive. And it feels beautiful to be Korean.
wjk,
And your point is what exactly??
You will find very few football supporters during the World Cup who dont become nationalistic.
no particular point. It just feels great, that’s all.
Sorry about having given the misforecast about France beating Korea by 3-0.
But, if you have watched the game, you would have noticed that in term of pure skills France deserves to win by 3-0.
I think the difference was Sir Advocaat. I decide to call him Sir because he is Lee Sunshin. He is the brainest of all smart people.
This is what he probably told Korean team before the game.
“You know and I know that France is much superior team than us. However, historically, some inferior teams were able to hold the opponent to 0-0 and sting them at the end. That is the only option for us. Don’t attack. Just hold your defensive positions throughout the game.”
And, at the half time,
“Be patient. Hold your positions and let French players tire. We may have a chance near the end of the game”.
And, it worked. If Koreans had attacked to get an equalizer at the beginning of the second half, the score would have been what I predicted.
Sir Advocaat for the president of Korea! He is a smart. His understanding of life in general is superior than any Korean presidential candidate.
Sir Advocaat, please be the president of Korea. Pretty please!
Good on em but they have some giant sized horseshoes up their collective butts. Gonna need to pick up the pace if they want to continue. Cannot foresee luck like this continuing.
wjk, i feel exactly the same way as you do. as far as the whole nationalism shpiel is concerned, i do agree, people just get carried away with patriotism moreso than the game itself.
however, due to the nationalism, i bet the korean football IQ on average is higher than any other country’s. you’d be shocked at how much the average person in korea knows about the sport, not only about korea’s national team. i personally learned this while watching the argentina-serbia and brasil-australia games with a bunch of natives of both genders.
Wasn’t that the same strategy Rocky Balboa used to win against Mr. T in Rocky III? Stallone should be suing for copyright infringement.
Anyhow, it was a good game. Personally, I think France should have one the game (the ball was over the line, from what I could see…), but hey, a tie is a tie, no matter how it’s gotten.
‘korea just got lucky playing the worst team (togo) in the tournament. korea will lose to france and be sent packing!’ collective expat community in korea
‘HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ‘ pawi
oh—-pilsung korea! oh, pilsung korea! oh pilsung korea!
PILSUNG KOREA!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
i’ll bet there’s steam blowing out of every orifice the expay has!
be the reds!
ps the koreans dare to dream big. tha’s why so many of their dreams become a reality. 4 years ago, many people said that once korea has to play outside korea, they would be sure to lose in the first round.
NOT!
OUR PRIDE OUR SOCCER!
I misforecast about SCG beating ARG by 13-0. But, if you have watched the game, you would have noticed that in term of pure skills SCG deserves to win by 13-0.
:p
Actually, Pawi… I actually do believe that you’re the reason why the collective expat community in Korea seemed to want Korea to lose. And I’m pretty sure that ‘Pilsung Korea’ doesn’t mean “Draw against France”, but what do I know? I’m in America, just like you. So stop giving your country a bad name… People like you are why everyone thinks Americans are assholes.
Pawikirogi,
What a foolish comment!
I am an expat from the UK living in Korea, i disagree with most of the comments about how bad the Korean team is and the “conspiracy theories” regarding 2002.
As an avid football fan i admire the enthusiasm that the Koreans have for the game, however it will end in tears.
Time for a crap analogy, just like i wouldnt deliberatly upset a young and niave child by telling them that Father Christmas doesnt exist, i will not mock the Koreans enthusiasm for the world cup, you will find out for yourselves soon enough that this enthusiasm is not in relation with the reality of the Korean football teams ability.
OUR PRIDE OUR TIDDLYWINKS
pawi, you are an embarassment. sure, there are expats that believe and act in the ways you described, but not all are like that. and by acting like a fool, you are pretty much convincing the others to believe and act in the way you described. pathetic.
korea tied with france. is that what the expat said would happen just a couple days ago? nope, they said korea would lose. did korea lose? nope.
now let me remind you of what i have always said:
count korea out at your own risk.
‘korea cheated!’ wailed the expat 4 years ago
‘come next world cup, we’ll see korea lose their first game!’ chinaman
‘korea just got lucky coming in fourth. they won’t be shit in 2006!’ declared the expat
‘without the korean crowd, korea will not be able to win any games in the next world cup!’ whined the expat
‘oh pilsung korea!’ pawikirogi
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
HA!
I have to admit, that Vieira’s header in the 28th minute was CLEARLY behind the line. Every TV replay showed it!
Dunno, what the Mexican referee had smoked, but lucky me, he didn’t acknowledged the goal.
Kroea’s play was again disappointing, uninspired and inferior in any aspect to France’s performance. But, hey, Korea has tied and I’m the last one, who would bitch about the game’s outcome.
Now Korea has to proof at least one time against Swiss, that we can play decent football - although I doubt, that this tournament’s team is able to inspire me.
ps FU davelee and zonath. you don’t get that i don’t give a shit about the thoughts of your average expat. so FU!
ARASSU?
Actually, I’m not an expat. I’m an American living in America, just like you.
Korea did show tenacity throughout and Vieira’s header wasn’t acknowledged by the ref, that’s life–if you saw the calls in the Portugal-Iran match, those were truly, outrageously bad.
Sugar Shin, I don’t think Korea is so bad, only too cautious in attack. This puts them at a disadvantage as I think they will not have possession as much against Switzerland, and not as many chances, but who knows.
Pawi,
You clearly do “give a shit” about the thoughts of expats, otherwise you wouldnt be here commenting.
Regardless of the performance last night, any neutral with the slightest idea about football would have said France SHOULD beat Korea.
Korean newspapers are reporting that FIFA declared that the header was no goal.
I agree. If the golie (Lee Unjae) grabbed the ball or the ball hit the ground then it is a goal. However, he punced it out before the ball hit the ground. In that case, most umpires are very reluctant to call it a goal unless it was done deep inside the net.
I have seen these situations many times before and I don’t recall any case where it was declared a goal.
ABC TV was making a big deal out of it. I think Alexi Lalas and Wynald knew that normally those were not goals. Yet, to make the game more interesting and to satisfy European fans, they pretended dumb.
If the same situation happened to the USA, they would have said that it was no goal. They are not spring chickens. They know these situations are rarely deemed goals.
TV people lie to boost ratings. Them, soccer boys, learned this fast.
Baduk,
If all of the ball crosses all of the line it is a goal, regardless of whether it hits the ground or not. Admittedly someone has to see it and if it is on the ground it is easier to call, but these things are part of football.
I love that the Koreans are saying that FIFA have declared it a goal, were they worried it might get cancelled out by some FIFA official??
They strangest thing was the lack of protests by the French players!
What is written on rule books and what is actually called by refrees are different things.
If an umpire sees an attacker slightly pull on the defender’s shirt before taking a shot on goal and scores, do you think any goal will be voided? No way, man. Unless the defender takes a severe fall, these minor violations are overlooked.
What is written on the rule books and what is called are different.
Sorry Baduk,
I think we are trying to make the same point, on paper the rules are simple, in reality it isnt quite that easy.
Even better that a shirt pull, was Peter Crouch’s pull on the Trinidad players dreadlocks when he scored Englands first goal!!
“A goal is scored when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar, provided that no infringement of the Laws of the Game has been committed previously by the team scoring the goal.”
http://www.fifa.com/fifa/handb.....2004_e.pdf
Page 33.
for me, i am a korea fan, not a french one, so if it was a goal that was disregarded, its good fortune for my team, and if it wasnt, its still good fortune for my team. so who cares! i do agree, that it is strange that there arent protests from the french players.
and pawi, please. my point isnt that you care about the avg expat’s opinions, my point is that you are responsible for making some of those expats have those opinions. i bet you’ve converted some expats to anti-koreanism with your stupidity here.
Thirsty is right. If the ball passes the line in its full dimension it’s officially a goal. Period.
They strangest thing was the lack of protests by the French players! Thirsty
They’re are true professionals, not some whining pussys lamenting about human failures of inadaequate referees - like e.g. the Italians. Did I mention, that I despise the Squadra Azzura :)?
Having said that, I do agree things can be different on the pitch and the ref call has to be final (even if it’s not fair).
Sugar Shin,
I was thinking the same thing. Italians would have protested.
But, Germans, the French or the Brazillians would not sink that low. They play with skills, not with their mouths.
Sugar Shin,
I also despise the Italian football team, however i am ashamed to say that the English team would probably have surrounded the referee had it happened to them.
Davelee,
You are right i have gone from hoping Korea qualify to the following after Pawi’s comments
1. Swiss beat Togo
2. France Beat Togo
3. Swiss beat Korea and Korea go home early.
4. Pawi tries mouthing off like that to English supporters and gets such a slapping that his children are born already polite and disciplined.
“Sorry about having given the misforecast about France beating Korea by 3-0.”
This is what I have been trying to hammer in to you the past few days. China was able to hold Frnace to a 1-1 draw until the 90th minute a week before the world cup started. France played with all their star players in that game and ‘lost’ Cisse because he broke his leg.
The game with Swiss will be dangerous. I consider Swiss a more lethal opponent than France. They convincingly beat China 4-1 just before the start of the world cup. We’ll see how they do tomorrow vs Togo.
Uh, apparently the French are more like the Italians than we feared:
A couple comments on the game. I am still amazed at how the Korean team can play a “decent” match for 75-80 minutes and then finish the match with such a rush of adrenaline. There’s not a single top-tier player on the team (and no Park and Lee don’t qualify to that standard simply for playing on English League teams) and yet when they play together somehow the energy level increases to an astonishing level over the course of the match. I was certain Korea was going to get a second goal in injury time. The rush was just that intense.
As far as the Frenchies go, is it my imagination or did Domenech seem really pissed off with some of his guys for taking long range shots? His normally stoic face had more of an edge after Wiltord and Maluda actually started turning up the heat and took a couple long range pops to put pressure on the keeper. Domenech seems to be quenching any sprouts of creativity and I think is personally responsible for the lethargic performance of the team. There is no reason why a club chock full of world class players can’t put on a better show than what they did. Note, more performances like what they got from Ribery are exactly what the entire team needs.
I admit that I was shouting along with few hundreds of other Reds in SFU Image Theater, with all kinds of coarse language to team Korea and Advocaat when TV showed stats. of shots which was 7 France: 0 Korea. And the squad did not even dare to cross the half line. What kind of play was that? I guess I shouted for 70+ min. on poor performance of team Korea.
But couldn’t stop jumping and screaming with “Dae Han Min Gook~~” when one attack of poor team Korea screw France up right at the end!
May be it was very effective strategy after all that Advocaat had planed for this match.
Hats off to Advocaat!
Hats off to Lee Woon-Jae!
Hats off to Red Devils in Leipzig Stadium!
Goooooooooooood Job Team Korea!
Another step towards 2nd round!
Oh I like this photo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/h.....5061492.st
Sir Advocaat told Korean players to conserve energy till the end of game. Koreans moved real slow for 75 minutes. They only came alive in last twenty minutes.
“why a club chock full of world class players can’t put on a better show ” - Answer: Egos. Jidan may hate Henry’s guts and vice versa.
Robert, the difference between France and Italy in this case is that the French held their words until after the match. Italy would, no doubt, have mobbed the ref even if the ball hadn’t clearly gone over the line. The French have a right to be miffed and speak their mind but they didn’t argue on the pitch.
In fact, perhaps the French should have been more vocal regarding the seeming fragility of some Korean players. Park, Ji-Sung spent more time on the ground than he did upright, trying to making incidental contact look like a mugging. Sadly, that’s part of the game but it takes away from his real football abilities.
I was surprised to see how violent French players got when Koreans scored the equalizer.
They threw Cho down on the ground. He should’ve gotten a penalty kick for that. He was open.
Jidan came in and kicked a Korean defender with his knee from behind. The refree caught that and gave him a yellow card. Jidan. The world’s most respected player was a f***ing dirty f***.
European players are frequently recruited from their prison system. F***ing dirty f***s.
Baduk, you may be right on both counts. Advocaat definately has his guys in great shape, both physically and mentally. To pace themselves like that I thought they could have played two games.
For France, egos might be a real problem now but it didn’t stop them 8 years ago. Perhaps egos do play more of a role when things aren’t going great. The coach’s leadership though is the real culprit I suspect. He is such a strict disciplinarian that he’s forgotten to let the team play. Fire him, and bring back a retired player from the ‘98 squad to coach the rest of the way. Even as just a cheerleader and not a coach he would be more effective.
Oops! it was 12th pic on.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/h.....061492.stm
And, the ABC TV pundits, Lalas and Wynalda, were saying how unfortunate it was that Jidan might not play his last game in this world cup.
They should have exposed Jidan as the f***ing dirty f***. These soccer players are dirty birds. FIFA should clean up the game.
mr chips, you are absolutely right. exactly 8 years ago. they aged 8 more years, and kept the same ego, and now its hurting them. and jimong, your taste in korean in women is disturbing. may the lord have mercy on your seoul.
“I was surprised to see how violent French players got when Koreans scored the equalizer.”
Hmm.. they play politely at first, but when they are about to lose, they will resort too all nasty styles of play in order to win. Does this say something about their general character in real life, or in politics?
JiMong. #45
That picture begs for a caption contest.
davelee…yep!
I know when your are far away from homeland and do not have much chances to meet…you lose you fine taste.
But the link was for the 12th pic (Lee Woon Jae with Henry ) that I wanted share …not the first pic though….
“ps the koreans dare to dream big. tha’s why so many of their dreams become a reality. 4 years ago, many people said that once korea has to play outside korea, they would be sure to lose in the first round.”
Actually this statement is VERY WRONG. The Koreans do not need to prove that they can play outside Korea because they already had done so, perhaps before you were even born.
North Korea went to the World Cup in 1966. They qualified by beating Australia 6-1 and 3-1. During the group game, at first they lost to Russia but only because the Russians were playing so dirty that even the North Koreans wanted to throw fists at them (only tto be stopped by the referee). Next, they drew with Chile were were 2nd runner up during the last world cup. And they beat Italy 1-0 (they nearly scored a 2nd goal).
During the battle at the final 8, they led Portugal (captained by Eusebio) 3-0 before the 25th minute. They even scored the first goal at minute number 1.
But instead of slowing the game down, the North Koreans kept on attacking leaving their defenses open. Portugal came back to win 5-3.
Koreans had already proven themselves to play good soccer as early as 1966 outside of Korea. 2002 is not the first time Korea shined. Btw, contrary to popular beliefs, the North Korean players in 1966 were not executed. They are still alive today. That they were executed by Kim Il Sung is a propaganda created by the South.
JiMong,
Lee Unja tells Marlon Williams (of Wayan brothers) “Go see your mama when you feel lonely. I am not your bitch any more. One more thing, I am pregnant.”
-PS: Wayan brothers have a new movie coming out. Marlon Williams will play a midget who pretends to be a baby.
dude, we already went over this in previous posts, north korea and south korea isnt the same country. drop it. people make a big deal because in the record books s. korea has never won outside of asia, we arent talking about A KOREA, we are talkin about SOUTH KOREA.
You’re sort of missing the point that when most people talk about the “Korean soccer team”, they’re referring to the South Korean one. Mostly, we do this because:
1. South Korea is actually in this World Cup, while North Korea is not.
2. North Korea hasn’t really been much of a factor in international soccer since that 1966 World Cup.
Sorry for this cliched one-liner but:
Please stop feeding the troll.
Not so much anti-Koreanism as anti-kyopoism. Nulji and his ilk are no more than cockroaches in the bountiful pantry that is the U.S.A.
That said, I’m one expat who is happy to see the Korean team do well. I’d be glad to see the team win the whole thing.
Woolala~ Dogbertt,
You are a closet Korean-lover?
I’m happy to see good soccer being played and I also like the positive attitude and exuberance of the Korean supporters, which is refreshing compared to the violence and mayhem favored by Europeans.
I only wish I had come up with the idea of the flashing red horns and patented it.
baduk: “Sorry about having given the misforecast about France beating Korea by 3-0.
But, if you have watched the game, you would have noticed that in term of pure skills France deserves to win by 3-0. ”
————————————-
Yeah, maybe 8 years ago.
This is not the same French Team that won it all many moons ago.
This team hasn’t won a single World Cup match in 8 years.
This team is older than my grandmother, and she’s dead.
Went out on first round in 2002. They were lucky to qualify this year.
Fact of the matter is, this Korean team has been more consistant. They should have beaten this French team like an old mule. If anything, they showed too much respect.
http://www.football.co.uk/worldcup/france.shtml
“nother miraculous goal keeps the flame of Korean nationalism alive. And it feels beautiful to be Korean.”
Why? (serious question - not being a smartass)
I am quoting this one only because it is the first.
I don’t get it. Sports nationalism in general that is. For me, sports are entertainment. I have no connection with the overpaid kiddies that play games other than the arbitrary notion of political boundaries (spare me the one blood nonsense).
Will use hockey since Canada football is bunk.
If Canada wins, I go to bed happy then get up the next day. If they lose, I go to bed disappointed and get up the next day. End of story. If they do well how does that affect me or my life? It does not. If they don’t do well the same applies. They are there to entertain and many get paid sick amounts of money to do so. Not too mention the pampering and privilege they enjoyed growing up.
I guess another question would be does the opposite exist? Do people feel shame when a countryman does some less than ideal things?
The cheering is fun. The game is fun. The nationalism is beyond my scope of understanding.
Origami,
I watched the game. The French team passed with “laser” accuracy and controlled the midfield throughout the game.
Korea is really lucky(as a Christian, I must use the word, providential) to tie. The French deseved to win by 3-0.
Shin Jong-il = minor league asshole
Nulji Marakpan = big time asshole
Pawikirogi = world-class asshole
He’s getting stronger every World Cup!
France sucked, but the referee sucked even more. He wasn’t even close [and by close I mean within 50 feet of the action] to the action when Vieira scored that goal [which was stopped by 이운재 something like a foot INSIDE the goal, as the numerous replays we've had since show clearly...].
“ps the koreans dare to dream big. tha’s why so many of their dreams become a reality.”
I wish I could dream as big as to scramble a lucky equaliser against a bunch of tired old men. That sure is big-dreamin’!