French has some serious problems imo (note - OBJECTIVE analysis)

[silentres]

Look I'm a Korean and I think the Korean team is shitty.
Sure they play with heart, have a great fan base but really their firepower/defense is not on par with other European/African teams (yet) to be on the last 16. Their play is, to be honest, reaallly boring as all they do is pass the ball around on their turf -> kick the ball way beyond their attacker or lose possession -> rinse and repeat.

But the French play sucked big time today as well. What happened to the heart-stopping shots from Thierry Henry; precision passing from Zidane and the superfast wingbacks delivering killer crosses? I know the team is kinda old, but their play was almost as boring as the Korean's. What should have been a one-sided dominating play became one of the most stagnant matches I've ever seen, similar to Italy vs. USA and England vs. Paraguay.

I watch World Cup games to see beautiful passes and crosses and razor sharp shots from world-class strikers. That said, both French and Korea failed to display aforementioned qualities and therefore I'm not sorry that France is going down. They need serious rebuilding and restructuring ahead of them.



Now one team I AM sorry to see leaving so soon is Ivory Coast - anyone watching their game against Argentina and Holland will agree with me. The team is superb despite 2006 being their maiden journey and you can really feel the players' determination and willpower radiating through the TV screen. And they've got skills on top of that too, as demonstrated by netting 1 goal against the two mammoths.

Finally for those Spanish, Italian and Japanese posters who keep basing the Korean team... thanks for your ongoing attention and please keep watching our games, since your negative attitude seems to bring a whole lot of luck for our guys :-p

[Pirlo_piccolo]

I completely agree with you.

Having watched all single Korean World Cup games since 1990, today's match was the most pathetic game we played excluding the 1954 WC.

Im hoping for a better touch, dribble, pass and finish at the next match with Switzerland.

[kcgirl]

silentres, I agree with you. I don't know if you post on or read the worldcupblog but to quote myself (hah) before the finale of today's game:

Korean defense and handling of the ball are poor. Everytime the French mount an attack, there are 1-2 French offensemen who are totally in the clear.

Also, when the Koreans pass to each other, it’s pretty shaky and often causes more of a retreat than advance. The players from the best teams tend to pass so that the ball is just ahead of the target, but Korean passes tend to end up short, making the target scramble to keep it on their side.

Disappointing to watch. The most we Koreans can hope for is a tie.

That said, I DO love the hustle and energy of the Korean team; that much I can be unabashedly proud of.

Ivory Coast is just ONE of a number of teams who, due to bad luck, are in groups that may leave them out of the Round of 16. Some others, I feel, include possibly Ghana/Czech Republic...and even the US.

I actually (and realistically) want Spain to win this tournament; the best contender at present for the trophy looks to be Argentina.

[kcgirl]

Apparently there is a lot of fighting and bickering going on within the French team. Since I don't want this to be Zidane's last international game, I hope they advance and get their stuff back together. It doesn't pay off to play the blame game, especially at your own teammates.

[artseuro]

Finally for those Spanish, Italian and Japanese posters who keep basing the Korean team... thanks for your ongoing attention and please keep watching our games, since your negative attitude seems to bring a whole lot of luck for our guys :-p

Great quote, I love it. Yes please keep bashing korea so they can get more attention and hopefully play better. Give them something to work on, give them more pressure so they can improve, make them angry so they can whoop everyones ass. Wave the italian flags so they can score, bring it on people.

Anyways, go england : p

[grimfan]

The Korean strategy seems to be to weather the storm in the first half, then sub in guys like Seol and Ahn in the second to take advantage of the other teams' tiredness.

Kind of like the inverted French strategy of going all out in the first half, then catching their breath in the second.

[kcgirl]

...except I don't think either teams deliberately intend to play that way; it just happens like that!

[celebratetheday]

First of all ,Korean team so lucky today.

And second ,Its all because Korean players gave well done pressing to French players.

Although Korean players seem to lack of skills (and thats true actually )
they made the pressing the French players well done in the second half.

I think Switzerland will have very stuffy game with Korean team .

[JDHU]

agreed..I like Korea, but their play is sloppy at times, poor ball control...

you can tell they just dont quite have the skills that the Euro teams have...

[grimfan]

Hopefully, in a couple of decades, the popularity of football in Korea will result in crops of skilled and tough young players. Korea may not become Brazil or Germany, but I hope we can become as good as most European teams.

[blacms]

The korean team has undergone MAJOR improvements under the leadership of Gus Hiddink. He scrapped the old ideology that koreans used to have about soccer and he introduced us to the importance of stamina and teamwork. We are not far back from the european teams. just watch, in a few years, korea might be placed in the 1st seed of the world cup

[kcgirl]

Hopefully, in a couple of decades, the popularity of football in Korea will result in crops of skilled and tough young players. Korea may not become Brazil or Germany, but I hope we can become as good as most European teams.

It's a real shame that Lee Dong-Gook couldn't participate in this World Cup.

These are the elements that make a good team or players on a team:

1. Teamwork. Willingness to cooperate effectively; lots of practice together
2. Confidence. In your teammates, and yourself. Which means that sometimes, an individual can do things that a team can't do all together, like make an awesome individual run that ends up scoring a goal. Don't be hesistant or too modest to take the chance for personal glory; trust in YOUR own ability to single-handedly turn the tide of a match
3. Stamina (physical and mental).
4. Strategy.
5. Creativity and joy. This is something that you can only occasionally see...when the faces of players just light up in the midst of a match. You can tell that apart from winning, there are other things on a certain player's mind, that they're having fun and getting caught up in the excitement of their fans, their team, and the adrenaline just pumping. These days so many things are so politically charged, and there are teams/managers/media that want to blame losses here and there, trying to "correct" whatever is "wrong" so that next time around they'll go farther or win more. Let's face it. In almost any World Cup match, there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser. Sometimes two teams can both play extremely well but one is going to get luckier than the other. I believe, more than anything, that this is what matters the most. Glory (i.e. winning) is nice, but...I hope the players never feel pressured into focusing solely on winning. Those who seem to enjoy soccer and feel it really is "The Beautiful Game" will excel and go the farthest. This is what the greatest players had.

And one day, I hope to see a Korean player develop especially the last element. Really, last I could tell Brazilians have dominated in that department. Maybe one day...

[blacms]

It's a real shame that Lee Dong-Gook couldn't participate in this World Cup.

These are the elements that make a good team or players on a team:

1. Teamwork. Willingness to cooperate effectively; lots of practice together
2. Confidence. In your teammates, and yourself. Which means that sometimes, an individual can do things that a team can't do all together, like make an awesome individual run that ends up scoring a goal. Don't be hesistant or too modest to take the chance for personal glory; trust in YOUR own ability to single-handedly turn the tide of a match
3. Stamina (physical and mental).
4. Strategy.
5. Creativity and joy. This is something that you can only occasionally see...when the faces of players just light up in the midst of a match. You can tell that apart from winning, there are other things on a certain player's mind, that they're having fun and getting caught up in the excitement of their fans, their team, and the adrenaline just pumping. These days so many things are so politically charged, and there are teams/managers/media that want to blame losses here and there, trying to "correct" whatever is "wrong" so that next time around they'll go farther or win more. Let's face it. In almost any World Cup match, there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser. Sometimes two teams can both play extremely well but one is going to get luckier than the other. I believe, more than anything, that this is what matters the most. Glory (i.e. winning) is nice, but...I hope the players never feel pressured into focusing solely on winning. Those who seem to enjoy soccer and feel it really is "The Beautiful Game" will excel and go the farthest. This is what the greatest players had.

And one day, I hope to see a Korean player develop especially the last element. Really, last I could tell Brazilians have dominated in that department. Maybe one day...

I completly agree

[kcgirl]

Haha, cool. I brought Lee Dong-Gook up because I think it's possible he could develop into just that sort of player, with the right combination of teamwork and individual ability. He's only 20 now, so he'll have a chance at at least two more World Cups (if Korea qualifies again and again) but...experience always helps and this year could have been a chance to get some of it. It must have been a real heartbreak for him not to be able to participate this year.

Though honestly...I don't know. Some other teams just debuting at the World Cup this year seem to have a better handling of the ball (e.g. Ivory Coast, Ghana, to name a few) so perhaps it's for the best that LDG stayed out this time. I'm not sure he would have gotten the support he'd have needed to play at his top potential.

I don't know what it is but many of the Korean players sometimes just look like they don't know what to do with themselves on the field, especially the defense. And they're shaky and their passing is bad. Towards the end of the match against France, they definitely got better with the passes but earlier on they looked like amateurs; I was yelling at the TV screen! And...I suspect it has to do with all the pressure and the competitive spirit surrounding ethnocentric international sports, and perhaps the society in general. I've never been to Korea...but it sounds to me like a very competitive society. Sometimes the desire to win can be a good spur; sometimes it can really stifle and prevent people from reaching their full potential...if/when they lose, I don't want them to feel like losers. I think Lee Dong-Gook (and maybe some other yet-unnoticed players) has the potential to one day be great. Let's foster love for the game, not love just for winning!

[Langbaard]

The korean team has undergone MAJOR improvements under the leadership of Gus Hiddink. He scrapped the old ideology that koreans used to have about soccer and he introduced us to the importance of stamina and teamwork. We are not far back from the european teams. just watch, in a few years, korea might be placed in the 1st seed of the world cup

Guus is the master, Advocaat is not a bad coach, but surely nowhere in the same league as Hiddink, but Advocaat is probably the best choice, since he's more familliar with Guus's style and I'm sure he didn't change the succes formula to much.

Hiddink managed to get S.Korea to the semi finals in 2002, he managed to get Australia to their 2nd ever WC and gave them their first ever victory, with a chance of proceeding to the last 16.
in '98 he even let the Dutch team play a better game than Brazil in the semi finals, but unfortunately the Dutch were unlucky with finishing and experienced the penalty trauma.

Won't even start what Hiddink has achieved as a club coach, really a great coach, no wonder Russia will pay him 1-3 million a year as new national team coach after the WC.

After Hiddink (wc '98 semi) and Rijkaard (euro 2000 semi) Van Gaal took up command and failed to qualify us for 2002, Advocaat took up charge after that, despite getting us to the Euro 2004 semi's, the quality between the two coaches Hiddink/Advocaat were obvious and I'm glad Van Basten is our new coach.

But well done South Korea, victory from Togo and a draw against group favourites France, good luck in your upcoming match(es)!