The South Korea WC thread

In group B along with Argentina, Greece and Nigeria.

No need to point out that Greece, Nigeria and South Korea will be fighting it out for the 2nd place behind Argentina.

Insane amount of goals scored this season by Messi, Higuain and Tevez combined, I seriously think that the 2nd place might come down to whoever concedes the least against Argentina, I reckon it will be that tight between the 3 teams.

South Korea have been generally poor in the run up to the World Cup, and they are still looking for that striker to support Park Joo Young in the favoured 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 formation.

I have NO idea how Greece and Nigeria play, but I do know how we play and it's pretty rubbish without the players from european leagues.

so mon non of them getting an injury before the WC

Star Players:

Park Ji Sung© - mixed performances for his club Manchester United this season, but no doubt he will be the first name on the team sheet, not sure he is a great captain material but he will be captain nevertheless.

Lee Chung Yong - stand out performances for Bolton has raised his profile a bit, I think he has the right wing spot nailed for the World Cup thanks to that. The team definitely needs a confident player with a few tricks up his sleeve as the team can be a bit too 'pragmatic' at times. Only player in the team who possess the ability to get past players with skill rather than just speed/persistence.

Park Joo Young - before his injury, he was doing a good job for Monaco, scoring some goals and generally being a nuisance to the opposite defenders. Hopefully he will regain his form, he has a bit of that clinical finishing ability and positioning.

South Korea looked very good in a game against Ivory Coast I watched at Griffin Park. They won 2-0 and looked very very in movment and quick passing.

Is Lee Young-Pyo still in the side?

yeah against Ivory Coast we loooked much better with the players from european leagues joining the team. However Ivory Coast were without a manager at the time so maybe that played a part too.

Lee Young Pyo is still in the side, but it remains to be seen whether he will be first choice or not.

Will Ki Sung-Yeung be starting do you think?

South Korea 30-man preliminary World Cup squad:

Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan), Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon), Jung Sung-Ryong (Seongnam); Kang Min-Soo (Suwon), Kwak Tae-Hwi (Kyoto), Kim Dong-Jin (Ulsan), Kim Hyung-Il (Pohang), Oh Beom-Seok (Ulsan), Lee Young-Pyo (Al Hilal), Lee Jung-Soo (Kashima Antlers), Hwang Jae-Won (Pohang), Cho Won-Hee (Wigan), Cha Du-Ri (SC Freiburg), Cho Yong-Hyung (Jeju); Koo Ja-Cheol (Jeju), Ki Sung-Yong (Celtic), Kim Bo-Kyung (Oita), Kim Nam-Il (Tom Tomsk), Shin Hung-Min (Pohang), Kim Jae-Sung (Pohang), Kim Jung-Woo (Gwangju), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton) Kim Chi-Woo (Seoul), Ji-Sung Park (Manchester United); Park Ju-Young (AS Monaco), Ahn Jung-Hwan (Dalian Shide), Lee Seung-Ryul (Seoul), Yeom Ki-Hun (Suwon), Lee Keun-Ho (Jubilo Iwata), Lee Dong-Guk (Jeonbuk).

Full story here.

awesome victory over japan, 2-0 with park ji sung and park joo young scoring.

really good spirit in the team right now, the main question is who the starting goal keeper would be, Lee Won Jae is experienced but in bad form, Jung Sung-Ryong have been starting the recent friendlies and he's been solid, and his form club level has been much better too.

Atm, my team would be:

GK: Jung Sung Ryong

DL: Lee Young Pyo

DC: Lee Jung Soo

DC: Kwak Tae Hwi

DR: Cha Doo Ri

ML: Park Ji Sung

MC: Kim Jung Woo

MC: Kim Nam Il

MC: Ki Sung Yong

MR: Lee Chung Yong

FC: Park Joo Young

I know we won't play 4-5-1, but i haven't seen anything convincing from any of the forwards who have partnered Park Joo Young so far and the quality in midfield is much better. Park Ji Sung plays wing-forward role for Man United (or used to anyway when Ronaldo was there) so Park Joo Young won't be isolated

Anyone know where I can get a cheap shirt? Had a look and the best I could find was about £50.

Looking strong, good luck in the World Cup.

kwak tae hui injured during match against belarus, and he is out of the world cup. replaced by Kang minsoo.

It's a real blow, one quality defender replaced by a mistake-prone, already tried and failed defender.

I hope Lee Chung Yong does a trick that gets into all the "highlight reels", so someone finally notices what a great talent he is and stop rotting away at Bolton

He's hardly "rotting away" at Bolton ffs; in fact it's the opposite.

No lee chun soo?

Yeah, been fantastic at Bolton, forced himself into the team and stayed there

yeah bolton gave him a chance to make himself known in england and he took it pretty well.

Who is South Koreas first choice GK?

Yeah but hardly anyone mentioned him last season is my point when I thought he was a revelation, and he deserves to be at a bigger club than Bolton

Who is South Koreas first choice GK?

not decided yet, between Lee Won Jae and Jung Song Ryong. I guess they will decide after seeing them train etc

No lee chun soo?

Has he retired from the national team?

he just went AWOL, he doesn't play for any team at the moment.

he always had attitude issues and while he was playing for a club in the UAE or Qatar or something he just left, and he hasn't been selected for obvious reasons

he always had attitude issues

He's rather prone to homesickness, isn't he? As least that's what I think I recall from his time at Feyenoord.

yeah that too.

if he was to be rated FM wise:

Ambition - 20, Adaptability - 1, Professionalism - 1, Loyalty - 1 would be his attributes

Good player though.

for sure. we could have definitely used him this world cup, it's a pity

I take it Chu Young is a first choice for South Korea? as is Lee at Bolton?

yeah both will be starters, unless Chu Young's injury is more serious than we anticipated

yeah both will be starters, unless Chu Young's injury is more serious than we anticipated

What injury is that? I have not seen this reported? Cheers

Ahn Jung-Hwan, Legend

What injury is that? I have not seen this reported? Cheers

don't think it will affect his start against greece, but he had a little knock during training a few days ago. I think he'll be ok!

Ahn Jung-Hwan, Legend

Ahn

a goal this time around means he will have scored in 3 world cups! I don't think many players can boast that record

what a fecking win!

can't really say I'm all that confident on our defence, the greeks made it easy for us by resorting to long balls as soon as we scored and even then we looked shaky when we got tired.

It was lucky we scored early, otherwise it would have been very different.

However, can't complain much about the whole performance. Brilliant performance from the full backs especially and everyone in the attacking end impressed except for Yum Ki Hoon

Come ON!

Hope to see more focused play like that from Ki Sung Yueng at Celtic next season. He has talent, certainly

Rooting for South Korea this World Cup.

They played really well against Greece. Nice flow in the team overall and the work ethic is good. The centre back pair had a few problems and look like the weak link in the side though. Still remains to be seen whether they can beat Nigeria. I hold South Korea as slight favorites to progress compared to Nigeria. The Argentines will be a little too good Im afraid. I hope South Korea convinces me in the next games though. Great entertainment to watch South Korea!

S.Korea's third match against Nigeria will determine the second place holder in Group-B.They played well against Argentina.

what a rubbish result and rubbish game.

Argentina dominated but all 4 goals were so soft it's frustrating.

It seemed that the players were overwhelmed by the occasion and couldn't even do the basics right. Kim Nam Il was supposed to bring some experience in the midfield but he didn't bring anything but misplaced passes, and Yum Ki Hoon needs to be dropped. He doesn't get past players, has no clever movements well the miss was shocking.

Not much positives from the game, but I guess it was an expected result and we'll have to perform against Nigeria.

Man the miss I really thought that was going in..

Don't think it was as bad as all that. Played some really good stuff in the second half and got unlucky with the third goal too when it looked like they might get back into it. Any news on why Cha Du-Ri didn't play? The right back in his place wasn't particularly good.

it was a tactical switch, Oh bum seok is usually more solid defensively than Cha while lacking the attacking threat.

backfired though, Oh bum seok was too nervous, too many rushed passes and bad touches.

Cha will be back against Nigeria

Yeah. Not a good result and performance today but I dont think it was too bad. Only the result was quite bad as it may well come down to goal difference. Probably a good thing that Nigeria didnt win today though. Now SK have the same goal difference as Greece although with 1 more scored goal. A 2 goal loss today would have ensured progress to the next stage if SK didnt lose against Nigeria and Greece didnt win against Argentina. I also missed Cha Du-Ri today. He was really good against Greece and his replacement didnt do anything better than what I believe Cha could have done.

it seems that cha du ri will be called back in after Oh performing miserably against the argentinians, and Yum Ki hoon is likely to get dropped as well after not doing much in the first 2 games.

It is likely that Lee Dong Gook will be the one replacing Yum Ki Hoon, I'm not totally convinced that he'll make that big an impact, I really think we will do better by going 4-2-1-2-1, with Kim Nam Il coming in as a defensive midfielder and Ki Seung Yong pushed up into a more advanced position to support the forwards.

Now firstly, GET THE **** IN

secondly, WTF WAS THE COACH THINKING

continuing to push forward when Nigeria look dangerous everytime they have the ball, and leaving gaps everywhere.

we will be raped by Uruguay if that kinda tactic (non-tactic really) is used against them.

ecstatic that we reached the last 16, now lets get that pressure off our shoulders and play with more composure, anything from now is a bonus.

Kim Nam Il, what happened to you

Very entertaining game. I was so nervous throughout

Norwegian TV pundit saying SK strength is the defensive Seriously. I guess he meant the running capacity and work-rate of the midfielders. Biggest weakness of the side is the defense. The centre backs makes me nervous and Chas defensive weaknesses came to clear light today. South Korea will need big improvements defensively if they are to have a chance against Uruguay.

yeah. defense needs working on, it's not really about the personnel, but something about our tactics.

we have the best attacking team we've ever had in history but I think that has kind of shifted our focus from defense to attack.

we do look nice and threatening when we go forward but we leave all sorts of gaps, and it hurts us.

and Yum Ki hoon has to be replaced. He had that one nice cross for Park in the 2nd half but that was it. he stops the momentum of our attack so often, I think against Uruguay it will be best to replace him with a defensive midfielder (Kim Nam Il ****ed things up today but I hope that was just a one off thing), push Ki Sung Yong up and play Park Ji Sung in wide position.

Genuinely Interested to hear your views on how much potential Ki Sung Yong has?

also we're being linked with Cha Du Ri is it?

I'm supporting you all the way boys

think you could do Uruguay

Norwegian TV pundit saying SK strength is the defensive

Pretty much anything starting with "Norwegian TV pundit says..." has high chances to be either an exaggeration of a somewhat true fact, or something obvious, or something so outlandish you'd wonder how he did get that job

Who was the football genius in this occasion?

P.S. Good job South Korea. Even though Nigeria not going through made me lost a bet, I'm still cool with Koreans advancing...

Pretty much anything starting with "Norwegian TV pundit says..." has high chances to be either an exaggeration of a somewhat true fact, or something obvious, or something so outlandish you'd wonder how he did get that job

Who was the football genius in this occasion?

P.S. Good job South Korea. Even though Nigeria not going through made me lost a bet, I'm still cool with Koreans advancing...

some dude from viasat 4. cant remember his name. he said SK was strong defensively. Although he reasoned it by pointing to the hard-working midfielders and how they tracked back its a pretty funny thing to say

My shirt arrived today!

Genuinely Interested to hear your views on how much potential Ki Sung Yong has?

also we're being linked with Cha Du Ri is it?

I'm supporting you all the way boys

think you could do Uruguay

I think he has the potential to be a really neat and tidy midfielder in your team who will keep possession well, has a good passing range and also has a good shot on him.

I also think he has the attributes to succeed in europe. He is a bit different to Park Ji Sung and Park Joo Young, who are somewhat modest and hardworking. Ki is more suave, has a more confident, don't-care-what-others-think attitude which I think can be harmful to a young player in excess but I think more Korean players going overseas need this confident attitude.

South Korea played very well. I was pleased with their effort and with a little bit of luck they might have nicked a second goal. They lacked a little at both ends of the pitch though.

I think he has the potential to be a really neat and tidy midfielder in your team who will keep possession well, has a good passing range and also has a good shot on him.

I also think he has the attributes to succeed in europe. He is a bit different to Park Ji Sung and Park Joo Young, who are somewhat modest and hardworking. Ki is more suave, has a more confident, don't-care-what-others-think attitude which I think can be harmful to a young player in excess but I think more Korean players going overseas need this confident attitude.

Thanks for your verdict mate

we saw all that at the start when he first arrived and then he didnt really get a chance after.

His attitude could be something to do with his learning his trade in Australia for a wee while imo I really like him though tbh

great effort by the team, ultimately our defense was the problem yet again, their 2nd goal was a wonderstrike you just gotta admire.

sucks, especially seeing ghana go through which is a team that I would have been comfortable with winning.

Time for rebuilding, and it's worrying/promising at the same time, the likes of Park Ji Sung/Lee Young Pyo/Kim Jung Woo will not be featuring next time which is a big loss but the quality in Lee Chung Yong/Park Joo Young/Ki Sung Yong makes me confident that we will be as good next time.