South Korea’s tie with Nigeria coupled with Argentina’s win over Greece ensured South Korea advancing to the knockout rounds for only the second time in their World Cup history. We all vividly remember the last time in 2002 when they co-hosted the World Cup with Japan and advanced all the way to the semi-finals before falling to Germany. That riveted an entire nation and bonded many Koreans living around the world. It also bonded parents with their children.
Yesterday was a hard fought game that required some luck for them to salvage a tie. Nigeria had great opportunities to score goals but in the end, the soccer God’s were smiling on South Korea as they secured the tie and advanced to meet Uruguay on Saturday morning.
Korea Republic recovered from the loss of an early goal to draw 2-2 against Nigeria in a gripping contest at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Tuesday. The result sees the Asians through to the Round of 16 as second-place finishers from Group B behind winners Argentina, and they will meet Group A winners Uruguay in the first stage of knockout play on 26 June in Nelson Mandela Bay. Nigeria, with just one point from their three matches, are heading for home to ponder what might have been.
The Nigerians, in dire need of a win to stay alive, dodged a bullet in only the second minute, when big Danny Shittu’s horrid clearance fell to the feet of Park Chu-Young in a dangerous position on the right. The Monaco man’s low cross was picked out well by the sliding Lee Chung-Yong, who sacrificed his body in a collision with Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama only to stroke wide of the near post.
After that early scare, Nigeria began to boss the play with their best moments of these finals. Coach Lars Lagerback opted for four attacking players in his starting XI, including Nwankwo Kanu, used for the first time in South Africa. The positive approach paid off, the Super Eagles taking a lead in the 12th minute. Chidi Odiah wriggled his way up the right side with a classy piece of approach work and his low cross was nailed into the corner by Kalu Uchu, who had snuck around his marker. The goal was met with a roar from the home crowd, in need of a boost after their beloved Bafana Bafana were eliminated earlier in the day.
Nigeria continued to push forward as the half wore on, with Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi going close and Kanu and Yakubu Ayegbeni combining well in the advanced positions. The Koreans – who looked so organised in their first match – were getting pushed around and losing their shape as the half wound down. Uche nearly doubled his tally in the 36th minute, only to see his shot from distance slam off the upright to a groan from the crowd. The Asians, against the run of play, took full advantage and drew level with their first shot on goal, Lee Jung-Soo heading home while unmarked at the back post after a free-kick delivered by Ki Sung-Yueng seven minutes from the interval.
The Koreans came out in the second half looking lively. After Lee Young-Pyo tested Enyeama in the opening seconds, danger man Park Chu-Young curled his direct free-kick around the wall and inside the back post from the corner of the penalty area to put the Taeguk Warriors on top 2-1 with just minutes gone. Pockets of lively Korean fans were growing in confidence and voice, singing the anthems that propelled their men to the semi-finals as hosts in 2002, but they were nearly silenced when Yakubu was clear in on goal in the 59th minute. Only a last-ditch tackle from Cho Yong-Hyung kept the big Everton man from a certain equaliser.
‘Yak’ was at the heart of the action again shortly after, missing a sitter from six yards in the 66th minute, before showing the guts to step up to the spot three minutes later and draw his side level after Obasi was felled in the area. A frenzied half-hour followed, with both sides going agonisingly close to tipping the balance and substitute Obafemi Martins missing a golden breakaway chance. But it was the Korean players celebrating at the final whistle while Nigeria became the third of six African participants to fall at the first hurdle.
If you woke up early this morning or stayed up all night to watch the South Korea game against Argentina, you’re probably feeling depressed or starting to feel a bad hangover. South Korea lost or should I say got demolished by the very talented Argentinians in the second game of their World Cup. I was at Circle Nightclub in New York where I reveled with my fellow Korean-Americans and JYP. Yes, the music man JYP was in the house with a bevy of ladies at his corner table, but no Wonder Girls. We were awash in a sea of red but there was one daring young Argentinian girl who showed up with her country’s jersey. Daring but everyone was cordial to her, except when the drums went off and we all clapped and shouted “DAE HAN MIN GUK!” The buzzkill started early when Argentina scored early but the last minute goal in the first half by South Korea erupted the Circle nightclub, giving us hope that we were still in it to win it. Early in the second half, the Koreans got off their defensive butts and started to press the ball forward but in the end, it was the very talented Argentinians that showed us and the rest of the world, they have the best player in the world on their team as well as many other talented (Gonzalo Higuain) futbol players. We still have hope to get out of group matches and to advance to the knockout stages if Nigeria and Greece can toil.
The World Cup is right around the corner and everyone’s getting excited to watch South Korea make some noise down in South Africa. Of course we all know how Koreans like to rally, and that’s with song, red shirts, and thundersticks. Are you read to wear you red shirts and yell “DAEHAN-MINGUK!”
Well, the Kpop band Super Junior released their song “Victory Korea,” as the fighting theme song for South Korea. What do you think?
Friday was the announcement of the drawings for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. South Korea is in Group B and they will play against perennial powerhouse Argentina, Nigeria and past Euro champs Greece. However, does the South Korean soccer team really matter to Korean-Americans? Who would they root for: the U.S. or South Korea? We know they’re not rooting for North Korea, who happened to make the World Cup as well. This is an opinion and there is no empirical evidence of this, but I would suggest that the Korean-Americans who end up watching the World Cup games will have a stronger interest in the performance of the South Korean team than the U.S. team. Though anecdotal, I take you back to 2002 when South Korea progressed to the semi-finals, its greatest performance ever in a World Cup. It not only captivated the Korean peninsula with masses of South Koreans watching games on massive TVs in public venues, but you could also see the excitement and support here in the U.S. Our parents were talking to us about it and not about school or marriage. They would share how proud they were of the South Korean team doing so well. Many of us are immigrants to the U.S. and the World Cup created a tangible connection to our Korean heritage. I personally remember staying up till the wee hours of the morning to watch the games at a Korean restaurant in Ktown New York. When the South Korean team won a game, West 32nd street would get flooded with people (at 5AM!) cheering. That was a cool scene and a moment to remember. In almost six months, the most popular game on earth will stage its biggest event and I hope you all can root for both South Korea and the U.S. I paraphrase a famed Korean senator by saying that South Korea is our mother and America is our father. We can have our cake and enjoy it to so have fun rooting for both South Korea and the U.S. when the World Cup arrives in June.
You could possibly be rooting for three teams at the World Cup if you’re Korean-American. You could be supporting the U.S. because we live here and you have citizenship. You could be cheering on the South Korean team because of your connection to your heritage. And the wild card but not really sure why you would is root for North Korea. NOT! Yeah they’re Korean but they’re still under one of the worst regimes in the world and we shouldn’t support that. However, it does make you wonder how good a Korean team could be if we had the best players from North and South Korea play together as one. That may not happen in our lifetime, or Kim Jong-Il’s lifetime.
So let’s get back to the World Cup fun. The South Korean team is in Group B and it seems like a real tough draw because you’re up against some big names like Argentina who may have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi. However, the erratic and emotional coach of the Argentinian team, Diego Maradona, may sink that very talented ship as evidenced by his poor guidance of the team to barely qualifying for the World Cup. That team is to talented to have barely qualified. Nigeria was historically one of the better teams from the African continent but the talent level seems to have thinned out this year with their porous defense. Greece is a recent Euro champion but has had trouble staying healthy. And the opinion on the South Korean team? The general consensus is that on paper, they may appear to be the least of the 4 teams in Group B, but they do have very better World Cup experience in the last decade, compared to their competitors and the South Koreans are known to be technically sound. However, from a raw talent standpoint, they do have a couple players in the English Premiere League but then there’s a falloff, which means the overall talent is probably lesser than the other three countries.
What we do know is that the best teams do eventually win out in the World Cup like Italy in ’06 and Brazil’s five historical World Cup championships. But once the first ball is kicked, it’s fun for the world to enjoy in the first few rounds and sometimes you get surprises like Turkey and South Korea advancing to the semi-finals in 2002. Can’t wait for the first game in June 2010!
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