Group B
Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece
Colors: Red, White
Current World Ranking: 53
Manager: Huh Jung-Moo – in his third stint as the national team manager, Huh is back at the helm after 5 successive foreign coaches, including the Dutchman, Guus Hiddink who led them to their most successful finish in the 2002 World Cup in Korea. A former midfield for the national team, Huh scored a goal against Italy in the ’86 Cup in Mexico and quite interestingly faced off against Argentina’s current manager, Diego Maradona.
History: Asia is not known for its soccer super powers but several regional nations have performed admirably on the international stage and South Korea is one of them, having qualified for 7 straight Cups and boasting the best FIFA World Cup record in Asia. The highlight of their World Cup history came 8 years ago when they jointly hosted the tournament with Japan. They finished fourth overall narrowly losing the third place match to Turkey 2-3, thanks to a lot of hard work, high energy, and a pretty rabid red-clad fan base known as the “Red Devils”. It was the first time the Cup had ever been held in Asia and the one and only time it was or will be co-hosted. South Korea was in Group D along with the United States, Poland, and heavy favorites Portugal. The US shocked Portugal in the opening match of the group 3-2 while South Korea handled Poland 2-0. South Korea then earned a 1-1 draw against the US before beating Portugal themselves to advance in first place in the group with the US just behind them. In the knockout stage South Korea again shocked a European super power, Italy, 2-1 in sudden-death extra time before taking down another European giant, Spain, in the Quarters on penalty kicks. That game was notable because Spain had scored twice, though both goals had been disallowed by the ref. South Korea then lost to Germany 0-1 in the Semi’s leaving them to face Turkey in the third place match.
They failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2006 World Cup even though the performed admirably beating Togo 2-1, drawing France 1-1, then losing to Switzerland 2-0.
Qualification was basically a breeze for these guys as they were the only Asian team to go through unbeaten, including a 2-0 win at Saudi Arabia, their first in 19 years.
Players: Basically, if you want to imagine South Korean style soccer, just think of a bunch of ninjas flying around the pitch. That sounds horribly stereotypical but it’s actually pretty true. These guys are fast, agile, and more the one of them is likely carrying a pair of nunchucks.
Park Ji-Sung: Captain of the Korean team, Park is the most decorated player on the national team thanks to his time spent with Manchester United since 2005. Quick, direct, and a non-stop worker on the pitch, the 29-year-old has endless energy, which the commentators will mention at least 5 times during every match he plays in. He doesn’t play every game for United, but when he does he almost always contributes. In fact, he’s scored in three of his last four starts against the likes Liverpool and AC Milan.
Park started his international career in 2000 and was part of the ‘02 squad in Korea, and has amassed 85 caps and 11 goals since then. He is the unquestionable leader and motivational force behind the Korean team.
Interestingly, Park was originally selected to the national team by the current manager, Huh, back in 2000 and was considered one of the most unpopular players on the team at the time. Fast-forward ten years and here he is captaining the team who is once again coached by Huh.
Park Chu-Young: Fifa.com had this to say about the 25-year-old, “After arriving in Europe without much fanfare in 2008, Park Chu-Young has become one of the hottest properties in the French top flight and an automatic starter for Korea Republic's national team.” Park was just in high school when his nation hosted the Cup in 2002 and performed so well, and it was just a few years later in 2005 when he made his international debut and scored in a draw with Uzbekistan, having just won the Asian Young Player of the Year award in 2004 after scoring 9 goals in 4 games in a single tournament. He was scoring goals by the boatload for his club and nation, but couldn’t keep on the pace and was nothing more than a marginal player in 2006 in Germany.
Wildly popular in Korea, Park is lightning quick, agile, and a great free-kick specialist. Having recaptured his form in the French league Park contributed several goals and assists during Korea’s run-up to the Cup. Their success in this tournament will largely depend on his ability to score goals. As an interesting side note, in his career he’s already scored against Nigeria’s U-20 squad.
Prediction: Despite their strong qualification and overall domination over the other Asian teams, South Korea has never advanced past the Group Stage in any Cup other than the one they hosted. They recently performed well in a friendly against the Ivory Coast winning 2-0, which may just have given them valuable experience against an African team similar to Nigeria. Again, Argentina is the clear favorite in this group and should breeze through. If South Korea is to have a chance they’ll have to beat Greece and Nigeria. Each of these three teams has over achieved and similarly underachieved in past competitions, so it’s going to come down to who wants it most. My money is on the home-continent advantage, so I think Nigeria will be advancing with the South Americans.
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