The World's Greatest Mystery

"We’re 1.3 billion people, can’t we find at least 11 guys who are good at soccer?"

For many decades, the Chinese national team has been punching well below its weight. China may be the world’s most populous nation but a men’s soccer giant it is not. The Chinese national football team has been affiliated with FIFA since 1931, but has only qualified for the World Cup once in its history. This happened in 2002, when co-hosts Japan and South Korea were qualified automatically. With two of the strongest footballing powers in Asia exempt from the qualification process, China qualified for the World Cup but went home in disgrace as they did not score a single goal.

Change is needed to build a world-class team. Thanks to the deep pockets of Chinese investors, football clubs in the Chinese Super League have been able to recruit well-known foreign coaches and a contingent of high-profile but aging players such as Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. The troubled football industry has also enlisted former England captain David Beckham to boost its image, but none of these strategies have worked so far.

Some in China see hosting the football extravaganza as just the catalyst the country needs to up its game, but the latest move sees a relatively unknown Korean football coach in Kim Geon-Jae emerge as an unlikely candidate to lead the reform of Chinese football.

Introducing Kim Geon-Jae

Kim Geon-Jae (born 14 July 1968) is a retired South Korean footballer who was known as a dangerous striker who excelled in putting the ball into the net. In his eleven injury-filled seasons of club football in Korea with the Pohang Steelers, he scored 83 goals in 147 games to become a club legend. He was arguably one of Asia's finest finishers in recent times, but his constant injuries meant that he never became a prominent striker for the national team. As one of the highest regarded Korean players of his generation, Kim was able to play three years of European club football in his prime, when he joined Everton for a year-long loan spell in 1999, followed by a two-year spell with VfB Stuttgart in Germany.

As a member of the South Korean national team, Kim was limited to seven caps and a single goal. Although he was approaching his mid-30's, Kim was chosen by Guus Hiddink to be a member of the team that finished fourth at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He had remained a highly effective striker who could always get himself into good scoring positions. Although his playing time was limited to off-the-bench appearances, he was an important part of the team. His wiliness and vast international experience lent a steady hand to the young players. He ended his international career after the 2002 World Cup, and later in the year, retired from club football as well, as he had turned his attention to coaching.

Kim followed Hiddink to the Netherlands to become a member of PSV Eindhoven's coaching staff. He stayed for four years and helped lead the club to three Dutch league titles, the 2005 Dutch Cup, the 2003 Dutch Super Cup. and their first ever appearance in the semi-final of the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League. Just days after the 2005-06 Eredivisie season ended, and eight games into the 2006 K-League, Pohang found themselves not off to the best of starts, and were delighted that their former striker was open to returning to his former team as manager. In the remaining 18 games, Kim lead Pohang to a second-place finish, finishing two points back of table-winning Seongnam.

In the 2007 season, with the K-League abolishing the previous split-season format, the Steelers finished fifth in the 14-team league, and made the playoffs by a single point. With a playoff structure that heavily favoured the top two seeds, Pohang went on a Cinderella run as they defeated fourth-seeded Gyeongnam (on penalty kicks), third-seeded Ulsan, and second-seeded Suwon for the right to meet the top-seeded Seongnam in the two-league final. A convincing 3-1 first leg win at home was followed by a 1-0 victory a week later as Pohang were crowned champions and gained entry into the 2008 AFC Champions League. Kim, in his first full season, lead the Steelers to their first league championship in 15 years, while also guiding the team to finish as runner-ups in the Korean FA Cup.

In 2008, Pohang again finished fifth in the league table, but this time were promptly eliminated in the first round of the playoffs on penalty kicks after a scoreless draw. Pohang made their return to the continental scene in 2008 after nearly a decade-long absence. Winners of the continental championship in 1997 and 1998, the Steelers failed to make it out of the group stage as two teams finished the group stage undefeated ahead of them. In the Korean FA Cup, Pohang conceded only once in four games as they won their first FA Cup since the creation of the knockout competition in 1996, and thus gained entry into the 2009 AFC Champions League.

In 2009, Kim lead Pohang to a second-place finish in the league table on goal differential, and thus gained automatic qualification for the next season's continental championship. As the second seed, Pohang received a bye in the playoffs until the semi-final round, and was promptly eliminated with a 1-0 loss to Seongnam, the same team that knocked them out of the FA Cup in the quarter-final round. However, in the Champions League, Pohang finished first in their group to qualify for the knockout stages. In the round of 16, Pohang crushed the Newcastle Jets with a 6-0 victory at home to advance to the quarter-finals. After a disappointing 3-1 loss in Uzbekistan left Pohang on the edge of elimination, a 4-1 win after extra time a week later at home saw the Steelers head into the semi-finals. Pohang then defeated Qatari side Umm-Salal over two legs to advance to the 2009 AFC Champions League Final in Tokyo, where Kim lead Pohang to continental glory as they became the most successful team in Asia with their third AFC Champions League title after a 2-1 victory over Al-Ittihad. The Korean side also picked up the Fair Play Award in the process. In the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup, Pohang defeated Congolese football club TP Mazembe in the quarter-finals before falling to Argentinian side Estudiantes in the semi-finals. A penalty kick victory over Mexican side Atlante in the next match meant they finished the world tournament in third place.

The successful season in 2009 was followed by disappointment in 2010 as the team finished a dismal ninth in the league and eight points out of the playoff spots. Pohang was also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League, and in the round of 16 of the Korean FA Cup by national army side Gwangju Sangmu. 2011 saw the Steelers again finish second in the league table, four points back of Jeonbuk as in 2009, and again eliminated in their first playoff game by a 1-0 loss. In the Korean FA Cup, Pohang made it to the semi-finals and were knocked out of the national cup competition by eventual winners Seongnam. Thanks to their second place finish in the league table, the Steelers were able to gain qualification into the 2012 AFC Champions League via the qualification play-off.

In 2012, with the Korean league adopting yet another league format, the Steelers were in fifth place of the now 16-team league after 30 games. Having finished in the top half of teams, they advanced to the championship pool in the second stage of the league, where a strong run of games saw them finish the overall league season in third place and qualify for the 2013 AFC Champions League, which was now awarded to the top four teams instead of only the top two teams. Pohang failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2012 AFC Champions League though, but they were crowned victors of the Korean FA Cup after a very late goal in the 120th and final minute of the game, moments before the final was set to be decided by penalty kicks. After the Korean FA Cup victory in October 2012, Pohang then ended the league season with an eight-game undefeated streak, including a 5-0 drubbing of eventual league champions FC Seoul in the second-last game of the year, as this marked the end of Kim Geon-Jae's seven-year reign at the Steel Yard.

Foreign players have been top scorers in the Korean league for four of the past five seasons, and usually feature heavily in the "team of the year" awards. Overall the tendency is clearly for Korean teams to grab as many foreign players as allowed, and then use them prominently. But Ianis Zicu and Derek Asamoah, along with defender Zoran Rendulic, are rumoured to be on their way out in the upcoming offseason despite being Pohang's two leading goalscorers in the past season. Many are speculating that the club are trying to emulate the likes of Chivas in Mexico or Athletic Bilbao in Spain. These teams have been among the more successful in their respective leagues, and their unique hiring policies have certainly made them marketable and cultivate a loyal fan-base. In Kim's last move before he leaves the job, the Steelers have publicly announced that they are set to unload all of their non-Korean players before the upcoming 2013 season.

To be continued...

Marcello Lippi promoted to technical director

Marcello Lippi, who reached four Champions League finals as Juventus' coach in the 1990s, has been promoted to technical director of Guangzhou Evergrande just months after being appointed the manager of the big-spending Chinese Super League club.

It is understood that Evergrande will honour the length of the World Cup-winning Italian coach's existing contract, which runs until November 2014. Lippi later appeared at a news conference broadcast live on Chinese television to discuss his new role.

"My promotion, like my arrival a few months ago, should be a big deal and the most important thing in China today," Lippi said. "I will continue my work to bring the Italian football concepts to China. As I promised before, I will continue to work with my utmost passion and professional knowledge."

The stated goal of Guangzhou's owner, Xu Jiayin, is to make Evergrande a continental powerhouse and despite his promotion, Lippi is still part of his grand scheme.

Rumours that Lippi will now take over as head coach of the Chinese national football team, while continuing to lend his expertise and experience to Guangzhou, were unconfirmed.