Kim Hak-Bom: Coach Of Korea's Winning Machine

In Korean, ‘Chunma’ is a Pegasus - the creature that in Greek legend had the ability to fly above the rest of the herd. Seongnam Ilwha Chunma has been doing just that in the K-League since 1993 when the team won the first of, to date, six titles.

The air may be thinner at the top, but the pressure to maintain high standards is intense and unyielding.

"There's a lot of pressure," Head Coach Kim Hak-bom told Soccerphile. "Our goal is always to win the championship and other competitions too. Just maintaining our position as one of the top teams is tough by itself."

It may be tough at the top, but that is where Seongnam is and plans to stay. The last league trophy resided in the trophy cabinet just to the south of Seoul in 2003. Kim took over at the beginning of 2005 and in the first half of 2006 he steered the team to the K-League first stage title -- by a margin of ten points -- earning a place in the end of season championship playoffs.

Even after such a statement of superiority, Seongnam was busy in the summer. US$1 million was enough to tempt ex-Romanian international striker Adrian Naega from Chunnam Dragons to link up with a strike force that is already one of the strongest among the league's 14 teams.

An added bonus to Naega's undoubted predatory skills was the fact, apart from his European experience, that he had already spent a year in Korea. According to Kim, buying players is a lottery.

"The chance of success is 50-50," the 46 year-old says. "Brazilians have mild characters and are good buys. They are technically very good. On the whole, good European players won't come to Korea but in Brazil they have two groups of players -- one goes to Europe, the others go to other countries."

"Sometimes I can find players in China or Southeast Asia but their level is not so high; we can find these types of players in Korea too. In China and Southeast Asia the players are a little expensive and they are a little lazy."

In this increasing age of globalization, coaches across the world are faced with the problem of blending players of different nationalities into a coherent and hard-working team. Kim has an advantage in the particularly potent brand of firewater that all Koreans know and not a few love.

"Soju is one way!" He laughs and adds, "With Soju they can talk heart to heart."

Perhaps the rice-based spirit could be made freely available in the stadium to tempt fans to the small stadium near Bundang station. Seongnam may be the country's most successful team, but they also attract the lowest crowds.

The team, Ilhwa Chunma, moved to Seongnam from Chonan in 2000 and it wasn't warmly welcomed by the sizeable Christian population in the city. The protestors objected to the fact that the club is owned by the controversial Unification Church. The church was founded by Reverend Moon Sung-myong, a name that gave rise to the nickname, widely used in the Western press, of "The Moonies".

Kim cares only about his team but is at a loss to explain why Seongnam have few followers.

"I just don't know," he says as he lights a cigarette. "As a coach, I am not happy with the situation. We do well but the fans don't come. It could be religious reasons or regional reasons, In the K-League, the regional feeling is weak. Seongnam people have no feeling for their city team.

"All we can do is play and perform well and then the supporters will know that and hopefully come back. The club officials are always trying to think of ways to attract fans. I hope to be like Manchester United where the tickets are already sold out."

Kim has been in the job around 18 months but before he answered Seongnam's call, he spent two years sitting on the Korean Football Association's Technical Committee, the body that is responsible for the national team.

The coach believes that the team over-achieved in 2002 and its natural level is just between the first and second rounds.

"It wasn't bad," he says "but we could have done better. The formation of the team was too defensive. Everyone agrees with this, including professional analysts, the media and the fans. Against Togo ... we should have been more attacking; they were a man down. If we have one more goal then we have a much better chance of reaching the second round."

"Look at Hiddink; did you think that Korea would beat Italy? But he said that 'this is Korea so we have no problem.' Advocaat is a top-class coach but he needed a big goal and then needed to develop a plan towards that. Hiddink did so and gave the players leadership and confidence to do so. Advocaat didn't."

Despite his criticisms of Advocaat, Kim holds the Dutchman in high regard, unlike his two predecessors Humberto Coelho and Jo Bonfrere. He urged the new coach, Pim Verbeek, to watch as many Korean games as possible in a bid to find the stars of the future.

"I was a member of the KFA technical committee with Coelho and Bonfrere. They used to say that there are no players in Korea. We said 'Hey, you are supposed to be high-level coaches. You say there are no players?' At the time we said to them 'we pay you lots of money to find players, you have to look.'"

With his national team experience, if Kim can achieve consistent success with Seongnam, then he could become a prime candidate for the national coaching job.

"It's good to learn from skilful foreign coaches. Someday Korean coaches have to take a role in the national team. It's hard to say if I will do but if a Korean person has experience and skill then they should have the opportunity."


Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com

K-League News and Interviews

K-League soccer football Pim Verbeek Korea Kim Hak-Bom John Duerden Seongnam Ilwha Chunma

Pim Verbeek interview

When were you offered the job?
We started talking seriously around the World Cup, before the game against Togo. At the time, we had the first meetings because officially Advocaat told the KFA on 15th June that he was leaving. I think that was three or four days after the Togo game. Before that he had a meeting with the KFA and told them that he would definitely leave the Korean national team.
That is when they came to me and said “he is leaving and we would like to go on with you.”

What was your reaction?
To be honest, my plan was to go to Europe. I had been away from my family for so long and I had more or less decided to go back to Europe and spend at least five or six months there and see what is happening.
Then this came and my family knows very well how much I like it in Korea and what I think about Korean football so they could understand that this was an offer I could not refuse. This is perhaps the only foreign job I would take because I know the country so well. I really think we can have great success.
It’s an obvious question but what are the main differences between being the assistant and head coach of South Korea?
Working with Hiddink and Advocaat is not so difficult because they give you all the freedom to organize the training sessions, to prepare team meetings and analysis and things like that. In the end, they take the final decision. You can have so many ideas yourself but in the end you always have to go to somebody who makes the final decision.
The good part is that with Hiddink and Advocaat, I never had a problem with the line-up, selection or whatever. You do a lot of the work but you never had the responsibility, that’s the biggest difference. If we win, I am responsible. If we lose, I am also responsible but that’s just a feeling.

How about the day-to-day things, the social side?
You know I always refuse interviews because of the limited time we have and also because I wanted to first have some results, know the players better and people know me better before I start talking about what the plans are.
The second part is that it is not so easy to go outside any more. Is that a big problem? For me it’s quite a big problem to be honest. I’d like to be outside and see something of the Korean culture and be among the people -drink a cup of coffee and visit a nice place. It is not so nice any more to go out and if I go out I wear a hat and sunglasses and that works but… it’s good that I have already seen a lot of Korea as now I spend my spare time inside.

The price you pay…
Yes, I knew that. I saw it with Hiddink and Advocaat. I always thought that that is the least interesting part of the job. I understand that everyone wants pictures and autographs and I try to co-operate as much as possible but it keeps you more inside and away from the social side than I like.

Has that aspect changed a lot since you became head coach?
It’s very strange. I was already here nine months and people recognize you and they say hello and take pictures but the moment they knew I was the new head coach, it was like I had scored ten goals in the World Cup!
It’s very strange but it keeps my feet on the ground because it has nothing to do with me but it’s all about my position. As the national team coach I am on television more than I was before. It’s not because I am a nice guy or because of my blue eyes but because I am the national team coach.

You are popular in Korea but after a few bad results, that could change. Are you prepared for that?
That’s the responsibility you take. I have the idea that the coaching staff and me do everything to make the team better and the players better and to win games. So as long as I have the feeling myself that I have done everything I can then I will accept everything. I have no problems at all with that. I started my coaching career in 1987 so after 19 years, nothing surprises me.
I didn’t come here to be the most popular and nice guy in Korea, I am here to get results from the national team and build up the national team.

The situation is different than the last two times you were here. Then, everything was focused on the World Cup but now there is a real chance to start from scratch.
Yes, it’s very different. We have a short-term plan and a long-term plan. I have tried to mix both but it depends a little bit on the results. It would have made my plans a lot easier if we had already qualified for the Asian Cup because then we could look toward the Asian Games, the Asian Cup and the Olympics but still now we need to get a point from the last two qualifying games.
It’s not easy to go to Iran and you know in football that everything is possible. People say “it’s only Syria at home” but in football everything is possible. We have to concentrate and bring in the best team we can find. This is no time for taking risks because that is what I’ve heard from left and right that some people still think that I don’t take enough risks.
I am not here to take risks. I am here to bring in the best players or bring in those who have a future and bring them in at the right moment like I did last week with Choi Sung-kuk. He had a very good training camp and is doing very well at Ulsan.

Who are these people who say you don’t take enough risks?
There are always people around in every job who think they know better than you – what you should and shouldn’t do. I don’t care about that as I think that is a strong point of football also. Everybody has an opinion; everybody speaks about it and is blaming players, coaches or referees. I am not stressed about it.
In answer to your question though I am trying to qualify for the Asian Cup and give young players a chance to show what they can do and also give the young players a chance to train with the best players we have in Korea. For every young player to train and play with people like Seol Ki-hyeon, Lee Young-pyo and Park Ji-sung is great and not only in training as they hear so many stories about how it is in Europe and how you can get there.

What is the main difference between you and Advocaat?
Advocaat was here for the World Cup and everything was geared towards that. He didn't have time to think about the long-term development of the game and the players but wanted good results – that was his job – though he did help young players like Lee Ho, Kim Dong-jin and Cho Won-hee.
He always wanted good results, even in friendlies because it not only helped confidence but because he knew that in Korea, results mean everything. I think that sometimes it is more important to give young players a chance in a friendly but Advocaat’s job was the World Cup. I have more time.
In the friendly games I will use some players and let them get some experience because that is the only way that they will become better players. It is also possible to make mistakes. I think that people in Korea have some problems to accept that, they think that if you are a national team player then you cannot make mistakes.
Last Saturday (in the 1-1 draw with Iran in which Iran scored in the last-minute to earn a 1-1 draw) we brought in one of the youngest and most talented young goalkeepers that we have in Korea (Kim Young-kwang). He played two very good games for us and we had no complaints at all. He did very well in training and he’s involved in one goal. I think there are three other players involved in that situation who made the first three mistakes. But people ask ‘why didn’t he play Woon-jae?”

In that situation where a mistake leads to a goal, what do you say to the players after a game?
After the game I didn’t say anything because I know from my experience that there is too much emotion. If you win there is a lot of emotion but it’s different but last week the level of disappointment was so high for everybody.
Nobody expected that we would concede a goal – nobody, because they had no chances at all. I told the players that I would say what I wanted to say on the next day. First you have to let the emotion slide away and then the next day they are more open to what I have to say.

So what did you say?
Of course, it was all to do with concentration, like it was in the World Cup. Without blaming Choi Jin-cheul but we knew exactly how Switzerland take the free-kicks and the corner kicks. When they take a free-kick and their most important player scores a goal then it has to do without concentration.
At that moment we were chasing the game and the consequences of losing concentration and playing for themselves are serious. Nam-il said that to the media, I never knew it but he said it anyway and I think everybody agreed with it and even the players agree. We showed them video analysis and we showed them what we didn’t do well. It’s nothing to do with the result but if you want to be a better team we need to avoid things like that.

So you agree with what Kim Nam-il said? (the new captain criticized overseas players such as Seol Ki-hyeon and Park Ji-sung for not playing for the team)
I fully agree. The players agree also with me. I can understand because I have been in Korea a long time already. The moment some players get the ball, the fans go crazy so the players always want to show how good they are and they want to entertain. I told them “do that when it is 6-0” and even then I think you should still play for the team.
We gave examples when everybody was there, I know it’s not really Korean style to confront players with what they did wrong but they know me well enough to know that we have to learn from our mistakes.
I’m not hiding. I think that everybody can make mistakes but you have to be alert and aware enough to know that you have made a mistake and the next time you should not make a mistake. If you make the same mistake three times and then you’re out.
The European-based players are used to getting criticised by the coach. I think I was fair; I showed them and didn’t say anything stupid after the game by yelling or shouting. That’s useless.

What about the World Cup? What were your thoughts on the team’s performance in 2006?
We still think and everybody thinks that the players could have done better. That’s easy to say but afterwards you need to find out what the problems are. For me it was easy because we had too short preparation time – that’s one.
Secondly, the players who are the most important players in your team at that moment, all of them came unfit – through an injury or not playing games for their clubs for the last four, five or six months.
For example Ahn Jung-hwan, Seol Ki-hyeon, Park Ji-sung –he came with an injury, he missed the first three weeks and he is a key player for us. So, the pressure and responsibility fell on the shoulders of players who are not the kind of players who can take it.
We knew that because of the lack of preparation that the players would get better as they played more games and we were 100% sure that it we reached the second round then the players would get much, much better – Park Ji-sung was much better in the final game than he was in the first or second game. He hadn’t played for four weeks. That was bad for him, the pressure on his shoulders was so big, he’s playing in Europe and everybody expects so much. You know how many commercials they made over here.
That was one of the most important reasons why we didn’t go to the second round. The first game we were under a lot of pressure, everybody expects us to win against Togo but it’s the first game for a lot of players in the World Cup. In the second game against France, we did much better and against Switzerland it’s all or nothing.
We gave an unnecessary goal away then you know you have to score a minimum of two.

What about the second Switzerland goal?
I still think it’s offside but I’ve seen so many times in football than a goal is 100% offside for one referee and the next referee doesn’t even look at it. I think that nobody knows what the exact rules are.

Many in Korea felt that the tactics and formations were too defensive, especially against Togo when Korea were leading 2-1 and against ten men and Switzerland, what would you say to that?
I don’t agree – at all. The only thing that matters in the first game is winning -three points. It was the same situation last week against Iran. We are winning 1-0 and the three points are very important. You can do two things and say ‘OK, we are going for 2-0 and then the game is finished but if that is not possible you say ‘OK, take the three points’.
I still think that Togo was dangerous in the counter-attack so why make it stupid for yourself and allow them a chance to make it 2-2? Three points is most important. Even with the next game against France, we always knew from the start that the Swiss game would be the most decisive game.
It’s easy to say three games afterwards that we should have scored more goals –if, if, if. Afterwards, I also know exactly what went well and what went wrong. I have no problems if people think that way but only one person makes the decision.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for some of Korea’s players. For example, you omitted Ahn Jung-hwan from the Iran squad as he is currently without a club. What advice would you give to him to get back in the national team?
He knows also that he was gambling. He must have been gambling, I am not involved and I am not his agent but I am 100% sure that there were some teams interested in him and probably they were not at the level he had in mind to play at for the rest of his career.
That’s gambling – he took a risk to wait for a better possibility. Everybody is responsible for his own decisions and I think this is the wrong decision. I am sure that he thinks the same. Even if he doesn’t play in the biggest league in the world he is still playing football and he is still at an age where he can play for another two or three years. Put yourself in one of those leagues and if you score 20 goals in one of those so-called ‘minor leagues’ then you are still an interesting player.

What are the chances of him playing for the national team again?
At this moment –absolutely zero. There is no chance. I really like him as a player because he is a player that can decide any game. I was really thinking about using him in the Iran game because even in the last 15-20 minutes, he can do a job and score a goal.
It is impossible. I can’t defend my decision to the outside world to take a player without a club who hasn’t played a game for two months. Secondly, I knew that Jung Jo-gook was playing well in Seoul and if you leave out a talented player like Park Chu-young saying that he’s not playing so well then how can you select a player without a club?
I can still think about his qualities but you can’t take a player who is not playing and has no future.

If he joins a team, it doesn’t matter so much what kind of team and what kind of league, as long as he’s playing football?
Yes, for me it doesn’t make a difference. There are no players in Korea at the moment with his qualities. Jo-gook is a good player for the future but we don’t have players like Ahn who can decide the game out of nothing. He is an experienced player and really wants to play in the Asian Cup.

Why do you think he has such problems with his club career?
If I am the coach of a club then I would look at his resume and to be honest, he didn’t have so many appearances in France and then he went to Germany and played twice in five months. He is 30 years old and coaches start thinking that maybe he isn’t one of the cheapest players and then they think he’s too risky.
I still think that for a lot of teams that he can be an interesting player. If any coach calls me I will tell him Ahn’s qualities.
I would also say that he was not lucky in Germany. He arrived at a bad time. The moment he arrived in Duisberg, the team started winning without him. For a new player, that’s a disaster, it’s good for the club but not for the player. I understand the coach, he’s winning without Ahn so why change?
He was unlucky because I spoke with the director and the coach before they bought him. I explained to them exactly what kind of player he is and they said that desperately needed a type like that – they were so positive and so enthusiastic so they took him but then they started winning without him, then it’s difficult.
For us he was a starting member but he didn’t show in the three weeks before the World Cup that he was fit enough, mentally fit enough and that he was sharp enough to start in the World Cup.
It was the same with Seol Ki-hyeon. I think nobody in England could foresee that Seol is playing as well as he is doing now. If you look at his time with Wolves, especially the last six months, he was never in the team. Could you have told anybody that a player who couldn’t play in a second division team in England is now one of the most attractive players in the Premiership?

How about Lee Chun-soo? He had a chance of a trial in England but he turned it down.
I didn’t know that until last week. I haven’t spoken to him about it but I can understand as he wants to go abroad.

Would he do well in England?
I think Chun-soo can play in any game, anywhere in Europe because he has many special qualities though he still has a lot to learn. A lot of coaches and teams would be very happy to have a player like that who is left and right footed, he can score goals and he can score free-kicks. He’s willing to work for 90 minutes. A fit Lee Chun-soo is for any team, except perhaps the top three in the big leagues, a good player.
Many Dutch teams would be very happy to have a player like him. The only problem is that we don’t have the money to have a player like Lee Chun-soo. That’s a pity because I still think that the Dutch league is for any player, especially from Asia, to show themselves and get used to the European level, is a good league.

Also there was Lee Young-pyo and his near move to Roma, what was your take on that?
I saw him play for Spurs recently in the right-full back position. I saw that the left full-back they bought from Lens in France was doing a very good job. I think that Young-pyo also knows that the left-sided position will not be easy for him.
I don’t know. I spoke to him and said “if you your future is at Spurs then you have to focus on the right full-back position because I think the left back is doing a good job.”
I have no idea why he didn’t go to Roma. He told me that it had nothing to do with his religion. But what the real reason was, he said ‘I will keep it to myself.”
Spurs bought a new right-back, a very promising, talented, right full-back ..

And expensive…
And expensive and I know the coach is really happy with his new signings but I also know that he was really willing to keep Young-pyo. I don’t see many players who can play left-back and right-back and have such a fantastic mentality.

How about Park Chu-young, do you think too much pressure was placed on his shoulders too quickly?
Yes – we knew that last year. Even last year we had our doubts but every ball he touched was a goal – he had the golden touch. Everybody knows also that after such a year it will be difficult – not only now but it already started in March.
From March to the World Cup he didn’t do well but we took him because he still had something special – he’s fast, he’s hard-working and he can score goals. We had our doubts before the World Cup?

What kind of doubts?
He wasn’t playing well; he didn’t score goals any more. He started not to play for the team but to go for his own chances which if you are feeling well is good but if you are not feeling well then you have to look a little bit more for your team-mates.
It was difficult for a 20 year-old player to continue at the same level. It’s not bad at this time for him to be out of the squad line-up and return to do what he’s always done, scoring goals for his club and getting his confidence back.
I’ve always said that we can use him for the next few years because he is one of our promising players. The question is how long he will stay in the deep hole that he is in at the moment. He knows – he’s intelligent. That’s the good part, he’s not acting as a star – at all. He just hangs around with the other players, working hard in training. The difference is that last year that everything he touched was a goal but this year it is going over and wide and to the goalkeeper.
One problem is that he is not a player for a three-striker system. He’s a two-striker system player where he has a free role and can run everywhere and be dangerous in front of the penalty area. So we have to change our system and use his qualities or he has to change.

Also Lee Eul-young has retired from the national team…
He said to me in the training camp that “there are so many good players – it is time for them now, they are good enough and getting better all the time, I want to focus on my own club.”
I told him that I respected what he said. I still think that technical-wise that he is one of our better players; he never makes a mistake when he has the ball. I said to him: “stay with us this week and let the young players learn from you.” He said no problem.
I respect his decision and I think he is right. The younger generation is growing very fast. He had a great career, he played in two World Cups and he played in Europe. He was a technical and very intelligent player.

Will the team miss him?
He is not a starting member any more because the younger players are coming. Everyone knows about the qualities of Baek Ji-hoon, Jung-woo, Lee Ho so they all have to fight and Doo-heon is showing himself. We have some 16 or 17 year-old players in FC Seoul, we have Oh Beom-seok who can play in several positions so it would have been difficult for Eul-yong to be a starting member but I always like that kind of player to help the younger ones. Especially in training, players like Ji-hoon can learn a lot from him.

What are your plans for the rest of the year apart from qualifying from the Asian Cup?
We're focusing on the Asian games. We have to make a quick decision about the Asian Games selection.

Are the Asian Games a big deal?
I think so. If you look at the possible selection then there are a lot of national team players, the more international experience they get, the better it is. A lot of these players will be in line to play in the Asian Cup and if you look at their age then they in 2010 they will be around 27 and the main part of the national team. Even if it isn’t the highest quality tournament, you still have to play international games and I like to have the team together.
But first we must qualify for the Asian Cup.

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Copyright © John Duerden & Soccerphile.com

Read an interview with Pim's younger brother Robert Verbeek, presently coach of J-League Omiya Ardija for the 2007 Season.

Robert Verbeek Interview

Canon Word Tank V30

Summer Sales In Korea

After the excitement of the World Cup, it is back to business in the Land of the Morning Calm though the K-League doesn’t restart until August 23rd.

Instead fans are treated to the ‘K League Cup’ – a 13-game competition in a league format that separates two 13-game stages of the K-League - a rather pointless exercise but it’s football nonetheless.

FC Seoul are about to win the thing and only need a point from their last two games in order to do so. They should get that at Suwon on Wednesday night as the Bluewings have been in foul form in 2006.

All has not been too well at the Big Bird Stadium recently. After a disappointing first stage to the K-League, Suwon coach Cha Bum-keun decided to leave his team to fend for itself in the early stages of the cup by heading to Germany to commentate on the World Cup. He was joined in the commentary box (I saw him often in Germany and it is a desk not a box) by son Cha Du-ri the now FC Mainz star who was excluded from Advocaat’s final list of 23.

The father and son act was a huge hit during the competition in Germany and broadcasters MBC were left smiling as rival networks KBS and SBS were left standing.

Suwon fans weren’t quite so happy as the team continued to struggle and questions were naturally asked why their coach would spend a month overseas when there was obvious work to be done just south of Seoul. Only in the tenth game of the cup did the Bluewings manage a win and if matters don’t improve in the second half of the league, Cha’s head will roll.

However, things are looking up as the three-time champions have recently signed FC Seoul’s international midfielder Baek Ji-hoon – whose boy band-like features have earned him the nickname ‘Flower Handsome Guy’. Baek is a promising midfielder with 12 caps to his name. The $1.5 million signing had a seat on the plane to Germany but continued to sit on the bench for Korea’s three games.

Baek will be joined by ‘The Outstanding Technician’ – Lee Kwan-woo of Daejeon Citizen who cost a similar amount of money. Suwon have always had problems defeating Daejeon so have taken the Citizen’s talisman and best player in order to try and end the jinx. Lee, 28, is a skilful playmaker and impressed Advocaat the first time he saw Daejeon play - though not enough to feature in any of the squads.

Always in the reckoning was one of Advocaat’s favourite players, Kim Dong-jin of FC Seoul. As the Dutchman left his home of eight months in north-west Seoul, he took the wing-back with him to Zenit St. Petersburg. To soften the blow for Seoul fans, the LG-backed team recruited one of his international team-mates.

Midfielder Lee Eul-yong spent the last two years in Turkey with Trabzonspor but the 30 year-old has decided to come home. His stated reasons were that his wife was ready to leave the Black Sea port and he was concerned about his son’s education though the more cynical of reporters mutter that a lack of interest from England were the reasons he returned home. There had been rumours that West Ham and Wigan were interested in the tough-tackling Turkish Warrior but the reality is that he is back in the Korean capital and was introduced to the crowd before Seoul’s clash with Incheon United.




United have struggled in the cup but claim that they are focusing on the resumption of the league. In contrast to most K-League teams who go Brazilian when they look for outside talent, last season’s runners-up have connections in the Balkans and have added a couple of new players from that region.

Dragan Mladenovic is a former Serbian international who Rangers fans may want to forget as he failed to impress in Glasgow. After joining the Scottish giants in the summer of 2004, he was loaned out to Real Sociedad just six months later. However, if the tall ex-Red Star Belgrade midfielder settles on the west coast of Korea, he may find the K-League more to his liking. Even more so if he can become friends with the headline writer’s dream that is Blaze Ilioski – a 21 year-old Macedonian international striker.

Champions Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I have seen a few changes but unfortunately for fans of the Tigers, they have not been welcome ones. The exciting title-winning team is slowly being stripped of its talent.

The midfield has gone. Hyun Young-min left for Zenit St.Petersburg long before Advocaat did but he has now been joined on the banks of the Neva by national team star Lee Ho – another of the Dutchman’s favourites. That followed the departure of Kim Jung-woo who went to Japan and Nagoya Grampus Eight at the start of the year.

To make matters worse, 2005 K-League MVP Lee Chun-soo is planning to return to Europe in August. The scorer of Korea’s first goal against Togo in the World Cup claims that Ajax have approached him as well as two unnamed “medium level” Premier League teams- a term that has nicely described Aston Villa and Manchester City who, according to the Korean media, are the interested parties.

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma are the favourites to take Ulsan’s crown after winning the first stage at a canter. So it is bad news for the league’s other teams that the six-time champions splashed out a million dollars to pry former Romanian international Adrian Naega from Chunnam Dragons’ claws. The ex-Steaua Bucharest star impressed last season on the south coast but has found goals a little harder to come by this season – however, he is still a quality act.

It is unfortunate for Seongnam fans, though perhaps not for the others, that he will not be able to link up with Brazilian striking sensation Mota, who will miss the rest of the season with a broken ankle.

Jeju United couldn’t find the net in the first stage of the league so they have signed Bosian international defender Nikola Vasiljevic who recently in Korea. He played the last three minutes in the Seoul friendly between Korea and Bosnia the day before the Asian team left for Europe.

Copyright © John Duerden and Soccerphile.com

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Long Road Ahead For Asia

Asia should be thankful for Australia – though Japan may find it difficult to find any gratitude – and the fact that the newest member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) was the only one of the five representatives to progress past the knockout stage.

Suspicions in Europe and elsewhere that Japan and South Korea’s 2002 success was helped hugely by home advantage will not have been allayed by the fact that the traditional big four Asian nations, were, as the saying goes, “home before the postcards”.

More serious is the fact that even with Australia’s presence in the last sixteen, there is sure to be at least some pressure from other confederations to reduce Asia’s current World Cup allocation of 4.5 spots. Any decision to do so would be have a profound effect on the continent’s football scene and with Australia looking strong, one or more of the traditional powers will miss out in 2010.

It is natural that there will be postmortems as to why Asia’s traditional ‘big four’ didn’t make it to the second round and earlier this week, the AFC’s President, Mohamed bin Hamman, pointed the finger at the standard of the continent’s domestic leagues.

It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that Asian domestic leagues have to improve and not just for the sake of future World Cups. However, nobody should forget that European nations have long and rich football traditions and it is only relatively recently that leagues such as Korea’s and Japan’s became professional – Korea was the first in 1983.

Asian fans shouldn’t then beat themselves up about the standard of their domestic set-ups, it would be truly miraculous if their leagues could even be compared to those of even average European nations and it is a credit to Japan that, in terms of professionalism and organization at least, the J-League can.

The problem is that during the World Cup, they are compared with the best by people watching all over the world simply because that is the nature of the tournament. Sat in Leipzig’s Stadium before the Korea – France clash, a quick glance at FIFA’s team sheets revealed the size of the challenge facing the 2002 semi-finalists. Players from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings were facing those from Real Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus and Bayern Munich -it is to Korea’s credit that they came away with a 1-1 draw.



Bin Hamman said that Australia succeeded because their players play in big leagues but what he is forgetting is that those leagues are not Australian. He can’t have it both ways – praising a nation who fielded just one or two A-League stars in the World Cup while telling others to improve their domestic set-ups. International experience is good for players and national teams but a strong league provides a much stronger foundation for continued success.

It is tough to find a balance. Immediately after Korea’s loss against Switzerland, Dick Advocaat told his soon-to-be-ex employers that the K-League has to improve. At the same time in a different part of Hanover’s World Cup Stadium, Lee Chun-soo, perhaps Korea’s best player in Germany and the 2005 K-League MVP, was telling reporters that he wanted another try in Europe.

Just days after giving his advice, Advocaat is getting ready to take two of the K-League’s best players, Kim Dong-jin and Lee Ho, with him to his new club Zenit St. Petersburg. It is a little like going to a friend’s party, telling them it’s boring before taking some of the best music and drinks to another party. The experience in Russia may improve the players and therefore the national team but what about the K-League?

It is hard to blame the players especially as they are usually encouraged to head overseas by media and supporters who are proud to see their home-grown stars strutting their stuff on a weekly basis in such strong leagues England, Spain or Germany.

France’s second division couldn’t be classed as such though that is where one of Asia’s brightest stars Masashi Oguro chose to play – a decision that shows there is still much work to be done.

The striker was one of the successes of the 2005 J-League season and his goals helped Gamba Osaka lift a first-ever league title. He broke into the national team and helped Team Nippon qualify for the World Cup. Instead of staying with Gamba, one of the biggest and best teams in Asia, to defend their title as well as participate in the Asian Champions League, he instead chose to join mid-table French second division team Grenoble Foot38 with an average attendance of only 5,000 ..

While it is welcomed that there seems to be a renewed realization that matters need to improve, it will take time, patience and a good deal of administrative will. Attention shouldn’t be overly fixed on the World Cup, a target of competitive domestic leagues is not a means to an end but an end in itself and the AFC, the respective domestic organizations, the media and the fans must be in it for the long haul.

If that happens then, despite the disappointment of the past month, there is a glimmer of hope that the 2006 World Cup may eventually seen as a watershed in Asian football.

Copyright (c) John Duerden & Soccerphile.com

Already Dancing In The Streets Of Seoul

It has been four long years since the end of the third-place play-off with Turkey when South Korea said goodbye to the 2002 World Cup but it is almost time for the Taeguk Warriors to show the world that the fourth place finish was no fluke.

A regular stream of reported surveys suggest that around 90% of citizens in the Land of the Morning Calm are expecting a place in the second round, despite the fact that the team has never won an overseas World Cup game in fourteen previous attempts at five tournaments.

That rate may have tumbled slightly after the two latest displays of the national team.

June 1 saw a trip to Oslo to face Norway, whose World Cup hopes were dashed in the play-offs by the Czech Republic leaving their participation in the tournament to one that warms-up other teams.

For Korea, it was a first game on European soil since Hiddink was in charge and it wasn’t the most entertaining of returns on a bright Oslo evening. In fact, the visitors, missing an entire first-choice midfield, had one shot on target during the whole game and in a laboured performance, never came close to looking like scoring until the last minute when Seol Ki-hyeon hit the side netting.

The Scandinavians didn’t show a great deal more invention and most observers were relieved when the game was brought to a halt. Visits to Oslo to play the national team are rarely exciting (the high point of the game was Morten Gamst Pedersen telling Kim Sang-shik exactly what he thought of him in language that Blackburn team-mate Craig Bellamy would have approved of) but at least none of the Taeguk Warriors picked up any serious injuries – though the aforementioned Pedersen also managed to kick goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae in the head.

The following game took place back in Scotland where Dick Advocaat had taken the team for a eight-day training camp at the training ground of old club Glasgow Rangers. However, the team travelled the short distance to the capital Edinburgh and Easter Road to meet Ghana. Any Hibernian fan that made their way to the stadium on a bright Sunday afternoon to check out the rumoured summer target of Hearts, Korean striker, Ahn Jung-hwan, would have surely been urging their rivals to sign him up.

Ahn, whose hair gets curlier by the day, was taken off at half-time, a substitution that summed up a disappointing build-up to the World Cup for the star, though he should still get the nod over Cho Jae-jin for the central striking role for the clash with Togo on June 13.

By the break, Korea were one-down to a Ghana team that looked impressively fast, strong and skilful. Lee Eul-yong soon equalized for the Koreans, roared on by a large and shrill red-clad contingent. That strike merely served to spur the Africans to move up a gear and the Black Stars ran out worthy 3-1 winners and with a little more composure in front of goal, the scoreline could have been slightly embarrassing.

The one positive to take from the game was that it concentrated minds fully on the opening Group G game with Togo. Pre-Ghana, the feeling in the media and the country was that the Africans would present the team with three points leaving the vital clashes to be fought out with France and Switzerland.

Advocaat had forever tried to reduce the nation’s (and perhaps the players’) over-confidence but found that the Black Stars of Ghana, in a tough group with USA, Italy and the Czechs did it for him.

The defeat did little to dampen a World Cup fever that is rampant in Seoul and across the southern half of the peninsula.


Despite the fact that the Norway friendly kicked off at 2 am on Friday morning in Korea, thousands of people danced, sang and ultimately fell asleep in front of Seoul City Hall, the same happened on Sunday evening.

They will be back, and in greater numbers too – on the evening of June 13. The whole nation is ready.

Copyright © John Duerden & Soccerphile.com.

Korea Pre-Match Press Conference

It has become almost a ritual now in South Korea that whenever the national team prepares for a home game, the day before kick-off, dozens of journalists converge on a prestigious hotel in north-western Seoul and spend over half an hour grilling the players.

The squad sits on different round tables. The more famous the player, the more chance they have of getting a table to themselves with chairs left empty in anticipation of journalistic attention. Other players, some less well-known or simply less talkative and outgoing, will sit with team-mates and roll eyes at questions or laugh at each other’s jokes.

It is Dick Advocaat’s idea, the Dutchman immediately winning over the scores of scribes in Korea by throwing open the doors, or more accurately, tearing down the barriers that had often existed between players and press under predecessor Jo Bonfrere – a seemingly small gesture but, unsurprisingly, a popular one.

On this occasion, the fourth time it has happened, the players are preparing for a friendly game with Angola the following day. Most of the squad have just returned from a six week overseas tour – a punishing itinerary that consisted of ten games, a good deal of training and by the looks of things, some significant bonding – as the players seem more relaxed in each other’s and the press’s presence than in the past.

Two foreign-based players are also holding court. Lee Eul-yong of Trabszonspor and Tottenham’s Lee Young-pyo. Due to the Carling Cup final, Park Ji-sung arrived late.

The Spurs star is one of two players that have the ‘honour’ of an advertising board being placed behind him, the other is Lee Chun-soo, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I’s tricky winger and K-League MVP 2005.

The atmosphere is busy but fairly relaxed. Advocaat, like the rest of his coaching staff, stands to one side, watching proceedings, helping himself to orange juice and shouting comments to players and pressmen. The Dutchman tells reporters interviewing young midfielder Baek Ji-hoon that it is his birthday.

Abruptly, the players get up and leave. Usually they head back gratefully to hotel rooms but this time they file into the main press conference room to participate in some kind of sponsorship deal between the national team, Amway and some kind of nutrient bar – one that looks strange enough not to warrant a taste.

After a gratifyingly short period of time, the press conference begins. Such affairs are not usually as interesting as one may think. The coach makes a statement, reporters ask questions which are usually greeted with fairly predictable answers.

Still, there is always the chance of something shocking, insightful or newsworthy and with the World Cup 100 days away and the national team’s last friendly game in Korea before the tournament just a day away, everybody is here.

Unsurprisingly, the theme of the conference was the overseas tour and preparations for the World Cup. Advocaat explained why the trip had been a success, the different kind of players played, the different kind of teams played and the different kind of systems played.

“We have a very good feeling about the past five or six weeks – playing and travelling with the team… we took the risk of playing ten games in five weeks to give the players a chance to play abroad against good countries,” said the Dutchman.

“Normally as coaches we wouldn’t play so many games… we had some great results and the games we lost we could have won. It was good experience. When Lee Young- pyo arrived in training he said that he could see the difference between now and November. We have improved a lot.”

Subsequently, a number of questions are asked, the one that gets a reaction from the coach is one that goes along the lines of: “You played a new four-man defence on the tour, most games Choi Jin-cheul and Kim Jin-kyu were the centre backs. Even though this pair continued to make mistakes, you didn’t give anybody else much of a chance. Why was that?”

Being sat on the front row, it was easy to see that even before the question had been fully translated to Advocaat, his face became flushed with anger and his eyes became hard. He struggled to contain himself.

“I make the decisions,” he barked. “Journalists write. You can write about it.”

It was interesting that Advocaat refused to comment on particular players but he followed the example set by his assistant Pim Verbeek a few months earlier, being happy to talk about young striker Park Chu-young, who according to the Korean media was going through a slump.

“We have to find out if Park will be in the eleven - it’s up to him. Of course, we take the decisions but when he shows his qualities then he will play – if he brings the right quality. Probably Park has to bring a little bit more.”

“It’s too early to say what the squad will be, there is still three months – everything is open. We will see the K-League and we can see many players abroad and see how they’re doing. We will tell the players to keep their good form for their clubs or it will be dangerous for them.”

That was pretty much it.

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