Korean World Cup Backups Struggling

With the 2006 Germany World Cup nearing, the poor performance of the national soccer team’s backups is K-League play is worrying the coaching staff.

Park Ju-yeong who could get the call as the national team’s primary attacker, continues to remain goalless in a series of games he played for FC Seoul recently. Playing ninety minutes fulltime against Ulsan Hyundai on April 8, Park was not able to score a single goal and took only one shot. This was the fourth game he remained goalless since scoring two goals at Jeju United match on March 25.

Playing against Park, Ulsan’s Lee Chun-su took five shots on the opponent’s goal but was unable to score. Lee too, remains goalless in three games since the match played against Gyeongnam FC on March 29.

Meanwhile, Song Jong-guk (Suwon Samsung), recovering from injury, started in a home game against the Jeonnam Dragons, only to get replaced after 52 minutes. Playing as defensive midfielder, Song fouled opponents four times and got one warning.

In the same game, Song’s teammate Kim Nam-il used his hand to block the opposing side’s attacker Ju Gwang-yun, and gave away a penalty.

The most noteworthy display by a national team member was the one assist scored by Choi Tae-uk, who hopes to secure the right attacker position in the national team, at Pohang Steelers versus Busan Ipark match. Pohang lost 1-2 to Busan. Thanks to Popo who scored two goals, Busan ended their winless run. It was one touching victory for Busan after twenty three winless matches since their 1-0 victory over Jeonnam on July 3, 2005. Meanwhile, Seongnam Ilhwa beat Gyeongnam 1-0 and kept the lead in the season’s standing with seven wins and one draw.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com