Pride of Origin

"Why does England fail to perform well in the major championship like the World Cup?"

England, the origin of soccer, has only won the England World Cup in 1996. Other than that, it has failed to win any other World Cup or European Championship. The main reason probably lies in that each part of the United Kingdom, or England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Island has never teamed up with each other to participate in a major game.

To honor the origin country of this sport, the FIFA allows each country of the kingdom to participate as an independent entity in the world championships. Experts believe that, if the four team up together, the joined power could exceed that of Brazil.

Let`s take Ryan Giggs (in photo) for example. Riggs, one of the star players leading Manchester United, the renowned English club of 125 year` history, comes from Wales. Throughout 39 A-matches on the Wales national team, he scored 7. Due to the sluggish performance of the team itself, he was not able to make his name in the world. But, throughout his career in Manchester, which has been continuing ever since his age of 18, he has made 110 goals in 529 games.

In the match between Manchester and Juventus that took place yesterday in Italy as the round of 16 for Group D in the UEFA Champions League, at first, Giggs was not expected to play due to his thigh injury.

Sent in as a substitute at 8 minute, he succeeded in leading the game for Manchester with his goal at 15 minute. Then, at 41`, brushing off defenders with his artful dribbling, he made another goal. England failed to maintain the initiative and lost the game to Brazil in the quarterfinal in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. Many experts believe, however, if Giggs had played for England, it would have won the World Cup. Looking at Giggs ` performance, it becomes understandable.

With additional goal in the latter half, Manchester United shut out Juventus 3-0. By winning the game, Manchester secured its ticket to the quarterfinal, recording 4 wins in a row. In addition, Manchester made another record of advancing to the quarterfinal for 7 consecutive seasons in the UEFA Champions League. Juventus got to secure the second spot with one win and one loss (2 ties).

In the group C, AC Milan shut out a Moscow team 1-0 with Rivaldo`s successful penalty kick. Winning 4 games in a row, regardless of the results in the remaining games, AC Milan will advance to the quarterfinal.

Real Madrid, belonging also to the group C, pulled out a draw with a German team 1-2, and Basel lost the game to a Spanish team.

Soon-Il Kwon stt77@donga.com