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Why more Korean players don’t play abroad

March 22nd, 2006 | By: Johnny | 9 Comments »

Whenever a national team excels in a tournament, there’s almost always a mass exodus of players from their respective professional teams to bigger and better (they hope) places. It certainly was the case for Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young-Pyo when they proved their mettle during the last Champions League tournament with PSV Eindhoven. They were obtained for very little money, too, and you’d think that would create an incentive for some of the mid-table teams in the Bundesliga, Premiership, La Liga, Serie A, etc.

So why did so many European investments in Korea fail to pay off? Here’s a great article regarding this very issue.

The same reasons the big names sometimes falter; they just don’t fit into their new team’s system. Michael Owen–one of the most desired strikers on the planet–scored about 13 goals coming off the bench at Real Madrid and even he had to fight for that privilege. Madrid also spent a mint obtaining Denmark midfielder Thomas Graveson in hopes of boosting their defense and he just hasn’t been the cure-all they’ve hoped for.

Ahn Jung-Hwan has bounced from five clubs in five years. Does a great performance make one a great footballer? Of course not. Just look at Salvatore Schillachi. He was only 26 years old during Italia ‘90 when he won the Golden Boot for the most goals in a World Cup, but failed to make much of an impression subsequently. Lee Chun-Soo ran rings around Portugal in 2002 but a move to Real Sociedad didn’t seem to work, and he came back to Korea.

To be honest, if I were a player in the K-League and I was offered a job to play outside of Korea for a significantly higher paycheck, I’d take it without hesitation. It’s not always as much of a gamble as it seems. The player will gain experience playing abroad, more money, it draws interest to other Asian players, and in some cases, the new owners gain a boatload of publicity.

Some of Korea’s National squad have sustained enough public interest to keep them gainfully employed outside of the ROK. Cha Du-Ri, the pacy (yet clumsy) striker who’s father Cha Bum Keun played in the Bundesliga, has managed to maintain his place at Frankfurt. Likewise, Wolverhampton’s Seol Ki-Yeon is still featured in the squad’s starting eleven, and will look to inspire a bit of WC confidence leadership this summer.

The bottom line is that consistency makes a player more valuable than one good showing. Take, for example, Jose Mourinho’s presumed bid for Michael Ballack, which is well worth it–he’s the best midfielder in the game today with two deadly feet and still young enough to make a go at it for a few years yet. And I don’t think Ballack has ever had a bad year. Manchester City has also made a seemingly good investment in Georgos Samaras, who’s got another 10 years left in him.

At the end of this tournament, which will mark the finale on the WC stage for many marquee names, it will be very interesting to see who gets nabbed in the ensuing weeks following the final match.

Tags: Group G

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Comments

By Harry | March 22nd, 2006 at 12:12 pm

Great comments. I think a lot of it is perception. Korean players will have more opportunity to succeed abroad if there are a few that really do well and open up the eyes of European teams that they are good enough and tough enough to play in their leagues. Once the bias goes away we’ll see more Koreans worldwide.

Posted from United States

By Greekfreak | March 22nd, 2006 at 12:35 pm

Agreed. Perugia especially should have chugged down a few gallons of crow when they criticized Ahn for scoring the winning goal against Italy four years ago. If he was British, Dutch, German, nobody would have said anything.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Massimo | March 22nd, 2006 at 11:58 pm

The only reason there are not many good players from South Korea is because they suck. Apart from cheating (where they seem to be particularly… what’s the word…. experienced?) they have nothing. Anyone knows Fifa was trying to promote soccer in Asia. Because of money and promotion Fifa is even hosting the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. What’s the world coming to?

If you are not stupid you can tell South Korea only made it to the Semi Finals in 2002 by cheating. Ok I take that back. Even morons can tell.

Posted from United States

By Greekfreak | March 23rd, 2006 at 2:44 am

Do all trolls have fuzzy hair like yours?

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Massimo | March 23rd, 2006 at 10:32 pm

If you seriously think Ahn is a top player you don’t know anyhting about soccer, you’re just blind. If he was good it doesn’t matter what he would do Perugia would have never kicked him out. He could have slept with the club’s president’s wife and he would not have been kicked out. You are even more blind if you believe what Ahn said after the Italy - Korea match in 2002. He said that the quality of soccer in Korea is higher than in Italy. I’m sorry, there should be a law that restricts idiotic comments like that, because apparantly there are people (Like those in this blog) that believe them.

Posted from United States

By Greekfreak | March 23rd, 2006 at 10:46 pm

This is an ADHD argument of the highest order. Tackle your topics one at a time, and re-read my post. While you’re at it, you’d do well to read my opinion on the Korea/Italy game before you jump to conclusions.

Ahn’s comments were response-baiting at best, and cornball nationalism at the worst. Italy had that game won but chose to lose it for a number of reasons.

You clearly want the last word, and by all means, take it. I welcome any feedback, even by those who are swayed by emotion rather than honesty.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By Massimo | March 24th, 2006 at 1:39 am

Can’t find your Italy/Korea opinion.

By the way you’re right I get emotion when thinking about that game, doesn’t change the fact that there was something extremely wrong with the refering. I mean even without looking at the bad calls. The fact that the referee was from Ecuador, after Italy beat Ecuador in the same tournament goes against the regulations. So the corruption must be extreme. And this as only happened in South Korea during a South Korean match. How can we overlook these facts and say that it’s because they have good player? Everyone can see this, even South Korean fans should see this. Instead they think that somehow, out of the blue they have some exceptional team and the players and coach are made into heroes. C’mon. Your turn to be honest.

Posted from United States

By Pedro P | March 30th, 2006 at 9:40 pm

I’m having a huge amount of fun watching our friend Massimo here crying about this particular issue… Justice was FINALLY made!

By JamCan | June 13th, 2006 at 1:30 am

Seems that Massimo forgot that Italy joined forces with Mexico in the cheating department in 2002. Oh, don’t you remember the first round, where one team was conveniently passing the ball in their own end without a single pass beyond the midfield (let alone shot on net) near the end of the match? Remember how that conveniently eliminated the Croatians from the second round? Didn’t hear anyone complain about how the two teams conveniently stopped trying after Italy tied the game with several minutes to go. Yes, Korea defeated Italy thanks to bad calls from the ref. But for what they did to Croatia, Italy got what they deserved — and so did Mexico — they got knocked out.

Posted from Canada