fighting spirit of dongbang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjJP1VkcVXw
south korea is out of the world cup. they haven exactly set germany alight. but i still feel a tinge of sadness that they are out. after all, they were the sole flagbearers of asia( if you don't consider australia as part of asia). saudi arabia were crap, iran did not live up to their potential as a skilful, attacking team, while japan, frankly, just didnt had the heart, the desire to win. at least south korea, though they din play very well, were decent.
you may say that 2002 was a fluke. or south korea were aided by controversial refereeing. but the way they played then, i felt that they were good for at least the quarter-finals. they really captured my imagination. a team that played their hearts out in every game, a team that was fast, dangerous, always pressing, breathtaking to watch in attack. it was really reminiscient of the old Holland. and i can forever remember the third placing game, when song chong gug scored the 2nd goal to cut turkey's lead to just 1 goal. he sank to his knees and made a prayer. and the commentator was saying: do we dare believe that korea will come back. that goal was scored in the dying minutes. it was so poignant for me, that image of song chong gug, kneeling on the pitch. the refereeing might have been suspect, but you have to give it to the koreans, they really played.
this world cup, they had the heart and the guts. but not the flamboyance.
but at least they had the heart and the guts. because japan didnt.
which is really sad. because japan has good players. but i always question their desire. how they can play well against strong teams, while flop against weak teams. they only beat singapore 1-0, remember? but all that bit about playing well against big teams is thrown out of the window when they got whacked 1-4 by brazil. and japan better start worrying about the future, because this world cup team is like everyone's around 26 to 28. there are no young fresh faces. there's a website on japanese football. and the young players they were clamouring for zico to include in the team, were all like 24 or something. which is really like the case for france. so japan shuld worry about their future. especially when ogasawara, nakamura, ono are gone. i mean this generation of japanese midfielders has quality. it's the captain tsubasa effect. japanese boys grow up with captain tsubasa and aspire to be midfielders. hence the dearth of quality strikers. they are trying to change that wif another manga about a striker. but still, this generation of midfielders was really good enough to play.
but they didnt. zico may say otherwise, and i have full respect for him, for his contribution to japanese football prior to his appointment as national team coach, but i feel that he didnt motivate the team enough, and was too afraid to ring the changes necessary.
i like japan, and love the crows on her rooftop( ai wu ji wu). pardon the pun, but the crow is also the national team mascot. so i hope the sun won't set.
south korea is out of the world cup. they haven exactly set germany alight. but i still feel a tinge of sadness that they are out. after all, they were the sole flagbearers of asia( if you don't consider australia as part of asia). saudi arabia were crap, iran did not live up to their potential as a skilful, attacking team, while japan, frankly, just didnt had the heart, the desire to win. at least south korea, though they din play very well, were decent.
you may say that 2002 was a fluke. or south korea were aided by controversial refereeing. but the way they played then, i felt that they were good for at least the quarter-finals. they really captured my imagination. a team that played their hearts out in every game, a team that was fast, dangerous, always pressing, breathtaking to watch in attack. it was really reminiscient of the old Holland. and i can forever remember the third placing game, when song chong gug scored the 2nd goal to cut turkey's lead to just 1 goal. he sank to his knees and made a prayer. and the commentator was saying: do we dare believe that korea will come back. that goal was scored in the dying minutes. it was so poignant for me, that image of song chong gug, kneeling on the pitch. the refereeing might have been suspect, but you have to give it to the koreans, they really played.
this world cup, they had the heart and the guts. but not the flamboyance.
but at least they had the heart and the guts. because japan didnt.
which is really sad. because japan has good players. but i always question their desire. how they can play well against strong teams, while flop against weak teams. they only beat singapore 1-0, remember? but all that bit about playing well against big teams is thrown out of the window when they got whacked 1-4 by brazil. and japan better start worrying about the future, because this world cup team is like everyone's around 26 to 28. there are no young fresh faces. there's a website on japanese football. and the young players they were clamouring for zico to include in the team, were all like 24 or something. which is really like the case for france. so japan shuld worry about their future. especially when ogasawara, nakamura, ono are gone. i mean this generation of japanese midfielders has quality. it's the captain tsubasa effect. japanese boys grow up with captain tsubasa and aspire to be midfielders. hence the dearth of quality strikers. they are trying to change that wif another manga about a striker. but still, this generation of midfielders was really good enough to play.
but they didnt. zico may say otherwise, and i have full respect for him, for his contribution to japanese football prior to his appointment as national team coach, but i feel that he didnt motivate the team enough, and was too afraid to ring the changes necessary.
i like japan, and love the crows on her rooftop( ai wu ji wu). pardon the pun, but the crow is also the national team mascot. so i hope the sun won't set.
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