It didn’t come as a surprise. Jeonbuk Motors led the K-league from early in the season and were the best team for most of it. Choi Kang-hee’s men should have won the Asian title too but had to make do with the domestic title to add to the 2009 crown. The inevitable came to pass on December 4 in the second leg of the Championship play-off final against Ulsan Horangi . Jeonbuk won the away leg 2-1 and then, despite falling a goal behind at home, recovered to take the return match by the same scoreline in front of a big crowd, which took the league past the three million mark for the season. Even stony-faced Choi Kang-hee managed a smile during the celebrations after which he told reporters that he felt now that Jeonbuk had become a big club. He is right. Until their 2006 Asian title, the Jeonju outfit had never been a serious contender but is now one of the best in Korea and the continent at large. Striker Lee Dong-guk didn’t get on the score sheet and even missed a penalty (Ulsan conceded five in five play-off matches but only two were scored) but had already done enough to be overwhelmingly voted in as the 2011 K-League MVP almost exactly 48 hours after lifting the trophy. Jeonbuk are not a team full of internationals, Korean squads come and go with barely a name in it from the champions, but coach Choi knows all about winning in the K-League. He rarely smiles but he often wins. Well-organised, tough but with players who can really play, the champions have been formidable. Ulsan finished sixth in the regular standings after a fairly mediocre campaign. The team saved their best for the play-offs, deservedly beating FC Seoul in the opening game and then squeezing past Suwon Bluewings and Pohang Steelers to get the shot at Jeonbuk and the title. Pohang finished second in the league but didn’t get too much reward for a solid first season under Hwang Sun-hong. The team was never really in danger of losing second spot but, for a thrilling 3-2 win over Jeonbuk aside, rarely threatened to occupy the summit. Big boys FC Seoul and Suwon both had disappointing starts to the season. Seoul lost coach Hwangbo Kwan and while caretaker Choi Yong-soo stepped in to steady the ship, he struggled to produce the goods in the games when it mattered. Montenegrin marksman Dejan Damjanovic had another season to remember however, scoring 22 goals, an impressive tally and six more than the next in the charts – Lee Dong-guk. Suwon’s season took a turn for the better with the summer signing of Stevica Ristic. The muscular Macedonian scored for fun and sent the Bluewings soaring into the play-offs. He never appeared in the loss against Ulsan however as he had to serve a six-game suspension handed out by the AFC. His part in the mass brawl against Al Sadd in the semi-final of the 2011 Asian Champions League was worst than most but the punishment seemed excessive. It was an unlucky season for Suwon. A controversial goal knocked the team out of the Asian Champions League, the same happened in the final of the FA Cup and they were eliminated from the play-offs after a penalty shootout. The surprise package of the season were Busan I’Park . Ahn Ik-soo was in his first season as coach and after an indifferent start led the team into fifth helped by talented attackers such as Park Hee-do and Yang Dong-hyun. Park has already left for Seoul and the problem for Busan over the coming months is going to be keeping hold of their best players when the bigger boys come calling. Seongnam Ilhwa started the season as Asian champs and ended it by winning the FA Cup to book a place in the 2012 version. Not much in between was good as the team without sold stars such as Mauricio Molina and Jung Sung-ryong struggled but coach Shin Tae-yong is hopeful of a return to form both at home and overseas for Korea’s most successful team. Gyeongnam FC almost made the play-offs but failed at the end. Their season was disrupted by the sale of star striker Lucio to Ulsan in the summer and the sale of star midfielder Yoon Bitgaram to Seongnam as soon as the season ended, despite interest from Glasgow Rangers suggests that the future may not be so bright. Chunnam Dragons also just missed out and the day after it all finished, coach Jung Hae-sung handed in his notice but was persuaded to stay on by the club. Also in Jeolla Province, Gwangju FC had a reasonable first season and finished in 11th with Lee Sung-ki impressing in midfield, so much so that he was named Rookie of the Year. Last season’s runners-up Jeju United ended in ninth after a disappointing season. Then there are the strugglers. Daegu FC, Daejeon Citizen and Sangju Sangmu spent the season in the lower reaches of the standings along usual mid-table team Incheon United. . Gangwon FC failed to score for the first four matches, setting the scene for a pretty dire season. The season was dominated however not by Jeonbuk or anyone else for that matter but match-fixing. Rumours have abounded for some time but the scale of the practice surprised everyone with around 60 players, some still playing others not, prosecuted and all banned from football from various numbers of years and sometimes life. It was all a bit depressing but some good could come out of it if the K-league sticks to its guns and launches a more professional version of Asia’s oldest professional league. Relegation is coming in 2012 for the first time though it has yet to be confirmed just how many teams will drop through the trapdoor. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

It is true to say that in football, the strikers are the ones who get the goals and get the headlines. Goalkeepers can play fantastically well for a full 89 minutes out of a fantastic match but one mistake and all know what the internet and newspapers will focus on. Lee Dong-guk is one of the biggest stars in the league. It seems that he has been around for over but he is still scoring goals and lots of them. As well as 14 in the regular season so far, the Lion King, so named after his hairstyle at the 1998 World Cup when he burst onto the scene, has been on fire in the Asian Champions League. With the continental competition at the last four stage, Lee is now the leading goalscorer in the tournament with eight goals so far to his name. Incredibly, six of those goals came in two games against Japanese team Cerezo Osaka. Both teams met in the group stage with both games ending 1-0 to the home side. The quarter-final was a completely different story with goals galore. The first leg in Japan ended 4-3 to Cerezo with Lee scoring twice. The second leg was expected to be similarly close if not with as many goals. Last Tuesday evening at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, the opposite proved to be the case as there were goals galore as Jeonbuk won 6-1 with Lee getting four. “It is the first time for me to score four goals in an official match,” said Lee. “We really want to win the Asian title but we also have to focus on the K-League.” it was one of the best nights of the player’s career. It has been a long career and in European eyes, he will always be remembered for a season and a half in the English Premier League with Middlesbrough FC. It wasn’t a happy time for the player. He arrived at the club in January 2007 and within minutes of appearing in the red shirt for the first time, he had a great opportunity to score only to fire a shot against the post. A few centimetres to the left and perhaps things would have turned out differently. As it was, while he managed to score in cup competitions, Lee never did it where it really matter – in the most popular league in the world. When his name is mentioned these days by the international media, words such as ‘Middlesbrough flop’ or ‘Premier League failure’ are often not far away. He returned to Korea in 2008 and after a brief and unsuccessful spell at Seongnam, he has settle well in Jeonju. Not as fast, mobile or strong as he used to be due to injuries, especially a serious knee injury that ruled him out of the 2006 World Cup when he was the national team’s star striker and at the peak of his powers, Lee is still able to find the net when it matters. Eight goals so far in the Asian Champions League, he is on course to win the competition’s golden boot. His goals have helped Jeonbuk to the top of the K-League table. Inevitably a return to the national team is now being discussed. Lee made the 2010 World Cup squad but never made the pitch. New coach Cho Kwang-rae tends to like younger players but has not ruled a Lee return out. He hasn’t been summoned in the roster for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against UAE next Tuesday in Seoul and it is unlikely that he will be but if he continues to score the goals that give Jeonbuk a second K-League title and a second Asian Champions League win, then the Lion King’s career could have one final twist in the tail. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

It has been a topsy-turvy season in the K-League so far. Asian champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma have been kept off the bottom of the standings only thanks to the dreadful form of Gangwon FC. Suwon Bluewings find themselves in one of their annual slumps in form while champions FC Seoul have improved since earlier in the season but still can’t quite break free of the middle level.One team though has been head and shoulders above the rest for much of the current campaign and that is Jeonbuk Motors. The team from Jeonju have found a level of consistency that the other 15 teams simply haven’t been able to match and not only that, it is entertaining fans in the south-west too. As Brazilian playmaker Eninho said on twitter at the weekend, “This is a Motors team without any brakes.”Until Jeonbuk won the 2006 Asian Champions League, the Jeolla club was never really seen as a major contender in Korean soccer. They would win the occasional cup (which is how it qualified for the continental competition in the first place) but it wasn’t one of the big boys that vied for the league title. That started to change and in 2009, Jeonbuk lifted the golden K-League trophy for the first time. It would not be a surprise at all if it repeated that in 2011.Just like the famous bi-bim-bap dish that hails from the city, Jeonbuk have all the right ingredients to give fans and players a taste of success. There is a solid foundation in defense, a lively and creative midfield; a strikeforce that can actually score goals with some Brazilian flair adding a little extra spice to what is already a tasty dish.Jeonbuk are top of the standings with Lee Dong-gook getting most of the headlines. The Lion King’s time as an international is over but the striker is still hungry for success and has managed ten goals already this season. Despite topping the scoring charts along with Sangju’s Kim Jung-woo, Lee is not yet ready to start thinking about winning the Golden Boot just yet. “We have to see after the season is over. I personally want to finish the season without injury,” he said. “This year, I feel comfortable playing because my teammates are scoring easily. The team is getting stronger because many players are scoring goals.”The former Middlesbrough marksman is right. Jeonbuk has scored an impressive 33 goals already this season in just 14 games. Gwangju was thrashed 6-1 and Incheon swatted aside 6-2. Just last weekend, the Motors came back from 1-0 and 2-1 down at home to Jeju United to win 3-2.Jeonbuk were also top scorers in the group stage of the Asian Champions League and has been perhaps the most impressive team in the continental competition so far. The team have reached the last eight and could repeat its success of 2006 when it was crowned champion of Asia. The quarter-final against Cerezo Osaka is not until September, leaving enough time to increase its lead at the top of the K-League. Lee may have been grabbing the headlines but it has been a real team effort. Lee pointed to the leadership of Kim Sang-sik in defence. The veteran pulls the strings. Former Korean coach Pim Verbeek often said that Kim was the best player in the country when he had the ball at his feet, so comfortable he was in possession.The Brazilians in the team Luiz Henrique and especially Eninho have been around for a number of years. Eninho can be inconsistent but often reserves his best performances for the big games. The likes of Kim Dong-chan and Lee Sung-hyun may not grab the headlines but are quietly efficient with Lee being called up to the national team recently. The team’s Chinese midfielder Huang Bowen is also finding his feet in the K-League.And in long-serving coach Choi Kang-hee, the club has a man who doesn’t say much but has seen it all in Korean and Asian soccer. “We are playing well at the moment but there is still a long way to go this season,” said Choi. “The challenge for us is to be doing the same at the end of the year and be challenging in both Korea and Asia.”At the moment, nowhere holds any fears for the team from Jeonju.Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Players come and go in the K-League, especially those from overseas. There is an incredibly high turnover of playing staff in South Korea, teams can virtually change their entire starting elevens from season to season. Hiring players is not, of course, an exact science. Some succeed and some don’t for a variety of reasons. Some can end up spending years at one of the league’s 16 clubs. The likes of Adilson and Dejan Damjanovic at FC Seoul, Eninho at Jeonbuk Motors and Dzenan Radoncic at Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma have played more games here than the average Korean. Others barely find time to sample their first kimchi before leaving the Land of the Morning Calm. Suwon’s Brazilian striker Wando never appeared before being chalked off and Bas van der Brink played just three times for Busan before leaving the club by mutual consent. Both parties said they were ‘disappointed’ in the other. It is just another example of a transfer that doesn’t work out. There are countless others, in Korea and in every major league. After they are gone, not much news about the former imports filters back east. That is not true however of a certain Brazilian striker who used to play for Suwon Bluewings. The beard and the hair may have gone but the smile is unmistakable. Edu spent three seasons at the Big Bird Stadium. He arrived in 2007 and left at the end of 2009. In the meantime he had two unremarkable years and one very good one. In 2008, his 13 goals helped the Gyeonggi Province giants lift a fourth K-League title after a play-off final victory over rivals FC Seoul. On that snowy day, he scored a vital goal against the capital club that will always be remembered by those of a blue persuasion. The South American was a popular figure in Suwon. His final season saw just six goals scored in the blue shirt but previous exploits endeared him to the club’s loyal fans. He left on good terms but there were a few eyebrows when he ended up soon after at Schalke 04 in January 2010. The team went on to finish second in the German top division. That earned the Gelsenkirchen giants a place in the champions league. Schalke reached the quarterfinal of the world’s biggest club competition but was expected to lose to defending champion Inter Milan. That didn’t happen. Edu scored twice in the first leg in Italy as the Germans won 5-2.The second leg in Germany ended 2-1 giving Schalke an impressive 7-3 win over the Italian giant. To see Edu starring against some of the biggest names in world football has gone down well both in Korea and with the player himself. "It is a lot of fun to play alongside such a great player like Raul. Although he has already achieved everything in his career, he has remained humble," Edu said. The striker is enjoying the arrival of new coach Ralf Rangnick as former coach Felix Magath was playing him out of position. "At the moment it is going well. I feel much more comfortable playing as a central striker, a role, which plays to my strengths. The coach alone decides who plays in the starting eleven but it is clear that I am very eager to play. We can still make a great deal of progress. Nowadays, everything is possible in football." The reward for defeating Inter was a semifinal against Manchester United. The first leg finished on Wednesday morning Korean time and ended in a 2-0 win for the English team. Park Ji-sung played his part but Edu, like his team-mates, struggled to match the English Premier League powerhouse. There are 90 minutes remaining but it is unlikely that Schalke will be able to get the necessary result next week in Manchester. Whatever happens, Edu has demonstrated that there is life after the K-League and sometimes that life is at the very top of the football tree. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

2010 was a year to remember for Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. The team from just south of Seoul not only won the Asian Champions League but went on to finish third place at the FIFA Club World Cup after meeting European champions Inter Milan. It was even better for Sasa Ognenovski, a man looking forward to his third K-League season. The big Australian was the man handed the Asian trophy in Tokyo in November. He was also named the MVP for the entire tournament and then the awarded the prize as the 2010 Asian Player of the Year. It was a dream season. Even better, the 31 year-old made his debut for the Australian national team in November and went on to star in the Asian Cup in January when the Socceroos made the final before losing to Japan. That is all history now. The new season has just kicked-off for Seongnam and the 15 other teams in the K-League. The question I put to him was: how do you follow a season that was almost as perfect as it could be? “Well, it is impossible if only because we are not in the Asian Champions League,” Ognenovski said. “However, it gives us a chance to focus on domestic issues such as the K-league and the FA Cup and doing our best to win those.” Not being in the Asian Champions League is a blow for the club. Seongnam’s exploits last season came at a cost at home and they failed to qualify for the 2011 version by finishing high enough in the K-League rankings. In the past, winners were given an automatic place in the tournament for the following year. That is no longer the case. “I think we should be allowed to defend the title,” said Ognenovski. “Any team that wins a major tournament should be able to defend that title but I don’t make the rules, we just have to not worry about Asia this year and all the travelling and just deal with the soccer in Korea.” There is another consequence of not having to deal with the Asian Champions League and it is not as positive. As the competition, featuring 32 teams from all over the continent, grows in prestige and profile, players want to be in it, especially those that have experienced it. Mauricio Molina was one. He could have been named the Player of the Tournament in Ognenovski’s stead and nobody would have batted an eyelid. Coming from Colombia, the wideman couldn’t, of course, have been named Asian Player of the Year but he was one of the best to play on the continent in 2010. So much so that FC Seoul paid out over $1 million to secure his services. He will be badly missed. I asked Ognenovski if Seoul being in the Champions League and Seongnam not was the reason for Molina’s departure. “Maybe,” he replied. “Obviously when you are playing on that stage, the whole of Asia is watching you and much of the world watches the final and then there is of course the FIFA Club World Cup. Players want to keep playing at the level and Seoul came in for him and they are in the champions League and we are not so he left. “He brought goals in all competitions that he played in. Overall, he scored 27 or 28 goals. It is hard to replace that and talent like that is not always easy to find and he wasn’t even playing as a striker so it was even more valuable. His set pieces were excellent and his assists too. Whoever comes in has big shoes to fill.” South Korean national team goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryeong has left for Suwon, another team in the Asian Champions League, and he was followed by Choi Sung-kuk. Ognenovski’s central defensive partner Cho Byung-kuk has left for Japan. So despite not having the distraction of Asia, some of the team’s biggest stars have left. Winning an eighth K-league title will not be easy. “It is never positive to lose good players, especially ones who are in the national team but the replacement goalkeeper we have is quality. We have been in pre-season now for a while and I have had chance to watch him in action and I can say he is good.” Ha Kang-jin certainly was in the opening weekend of the K-League season as he saved a last-minute penalty kick at Pohang Steelers to secure a 1-1 tie and has been named in the squad to face Honduras on March 25. Seongnam coach Shin Tae-yong, one of the most highly-rated young tacticians in Asia, has promised fans two new players from Brazil that he hopes will replace the likes of Molina. Ognenovski hopes so: “In the K-League, if you get good foreigners then they can make a big difference. Hopefully the ones we bring in are better than the ones who left.” Whatever happens, the big man from down under will not feel lonely in 2011. Three more imports have followed in his footsteps from Australia’s A-League. Iain Fyfe and Dutchman Bas Van der Brink have joined Busan I’Park while Luke Devere is now a Gyeongnam player. “They talk to me and ask me about the lifestyle and the league. I usually answer in a positive fashion. I talked to Luke Devere and told him that he will improve as a player because he will be marking better players as a defender and will also be playing with better players. “It is a great experience. I haven’t talked to the other guys but am sure that we will get a chance at some point. But we are here to play football in the end and that is our job. The other things are not so important. We are not here to look around and go sightseeing.” Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Asian football history will be made this Wednesday with South Korea at the heart of it all. The Land of the Morning Calm is supplying 50% of the eight teams still involved in the Asian Champions League as the continental competition resumes at the quarterfinal stage after a break of four months. Much has happened since the second round came to a close in May, not least the 2010 World Cup. Nothing like this, one nation supplying the maximum four teams possible, has happened before however. East and South-East Asia supplied 16 of the 32 teams that started out in the competition back in February. The four teams each from Japan and China have fallen by the wayside as have representatives from Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. Only Korea remains as the K-League looks for a ninth championship and East Asia for a fifth in succession. Now, with the final in sight, the continent is no longer split into east and west. After the group stage and the one-off match of the second round, the quarter and semi-finals are two-legged affairs. Defending Asian champions Pohang Steelers and defending Korean champions Jeonbuk Motors will face long trips to West Asia over the next week. Not Seongnam Ilhwa or Suwon Bluewings though. Most eyes in Korea will be on the clash between the Gyeonggi giants who become the first all-Korean participants of an Asian tie since Jeonbuk and Ulsan met at the semi-final stage of the 2006 tournament. It promises to be quite a clash, both at Seongnam’s Tancheon Stadium on Wednesday and in the second leg at Suwon World Cup Stadium a week later. A few months ago, Seongnam, would have been the overwhelming favorites to progress to the last four for the third time in seven years but much has changed over the summer. To be more accurate, Suwon have changed. The team now bears little resemblance to the soporific and sluggish side that sank to the bottom of the K-League in the first half of the season. With loss after loss in the domestic game, coach Cha Bum-keun, regarded as the greatest Asian soccer player of the 20th century, called it a day in June. His replacement Yoon Sung-hyo has, so far, been a revelation. Seven wins and two ties, a record marred only by last weekend’s loss at the hands of leaders Jeju United, have seen the Bluewings soar from bottom to seventh place in the league. New signing Naohiro Takahara is starting to score and the former Japanese international in joined in attacked by the returning Shin Young-rok. With Kim Doo-hyun and Baek Ji-hoon looking like their former selves in midfield, Suwon fans are confident of upsetting Seongnam. In Asian terms that would be something of a shock. Seongnam were much more impressive in the Champions League earlier this season and is still going well in the league with six wins from its last ten matches. Coach Shin Tae-yong is looking to become the first man to win the Asian Champions League as both coach and player after lifting the trophy with the same club back in 1996. "Suwon has a strong forward and midfield line-up …and the team condition of Suwon looks very good and it is also playing well. But we don’t need to worry about this. We will prepare well and win.” said Shin to the official homepage of the Asian Football Confederation. “Every K-League club has a keen desire to play in the Champions League. They want to win the prize money and they want to play in the FIFA Club World Cup. So they prepare a lot for the competition. I think this is the main reason why four K-League clubs could reach the last eight this year.” Pohang Steelers won the competition last year for a record third time and despite the team’s poor form at home; they have made it into the last eight once again. The first leg is a long trek to the home of Iran’s league leaders Zob Ahan. It is the first time that the hosts have made it this far but after the Iranian national team won 1-0 in Seoul last week in an international friendly, Pohang will be taking nothing for granted. The third Korean match sees Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia travel to Jeonju to face Jeonbuk Motors. It is the first West Asian opposition for the Greens since the final of the 2006 tournament in which they defeated Al Karama of Syria. Jeonbuk will be favorites to progress to the last four despite a poor showing last Friday as they lost 3-1 at home to Gangwon FC. Last, and for Koreans, least, is the all West Asian clash between Saudi Arabian powerhouse AL Hilal and Qatar's Al Gharafa. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

In between football seasons comes the silly season - a time when clubs are looking for new players and vice-versa. The internet bulges with stories of interest, denials, refusals, offers, medical tests, breakdowns and then, sometimes, a picture of a beaming player wearing a new club shirt. The World Cup comes around every four years to add extra impetus. The global stage acts as a month-long advertisement for players. In Korea’s case it lasted almost three weeks but it was enough to set a few wheels in motion. Potentially the biggest transfer of a South Korean player this summer is that of Park Chu-young. The striker, who turned 25 last week, already plies his trade in Europe and has been with AS Monaco since August 2008. His solid performances in France were noticed in bigger leagues and then his impressive displays in South Africa, have, according to reports, persuaded English Premier League clubs to check their bank balances to find the $10 million or so that would be necessary to buy him. Monaco doesn’t want to sell but that doesn’t always matter in the modern transfer market. The Ligue One team played an exhibition against Incheon United on July 11 after which coach Guy Lacombe was quizzed by local journalists about the future of the former FC Seoul star. The boss said the usual stuff about that ‘Park is a Monaco player’ but admitted that ‘never’ was not a common word in the lexicon of football. The English media took notice of such remarks and so did, according to reports, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham. It is an impressive list and while such reports should often be served with a pinch of salt, there is a gathering of momentum that suggests that Park will be on his way north before the end of the summer. It will be a move welcomed by a Korean media that likes to see its stars in England, the most popular league in the world. Those journalists would probably choose Liverpool, 18-time English and five-time European champions, as the preferred destination. With Park Ji-sung at Manchester United, another Park at United’s great rival just up the road would add an interesting extra sub-plot ahead of the new season. New Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson, who hardly selected Seol Ki-hyeon in his time at Fulham, has asked the club’s loyal fans that if they have to read transfer reports, not to read too much into them."We are looking to add to and improve the squad, but I prefer not to talk or say what we are doing until we have something concrete to announce,” he told the club’s website. "We are being linked with players left, right and centre and it amuses me that we are sometimes linked with players we haven't even heard of.” The well-travelled Hodgson has certainly heard of Park as it has been claimed in England and Korea that he tried to buy the star for former club Fulham in April 2009 only for the player to choose to stay by the Mediterranean rather than move to the London club with a stadium on the banks of the River Thames. Liverpool, as one of the biggest clubs in Europe, would be a different proposition despite the fact the club is in debt and seeking new owners. Before the World Cup not many had heard of Cho Yong-hyung but the Jeju United defender played in all four games in South Africa and could be about to move direct from the K-League to the Premier League, something just two players, Lee’s Chung-young and Dong-gook, have done before. The agent of the softly-spoken star has been happy to publicly declare interest. "Aston Villa and a few other European clubs have shown interest," said Yoon Ki-yeon. "I can confirm that he is on their transfer list and I expect the official deal will be made after the World Cup." Some moves had been completed already. Cha Du-ri lined up in South Africa along with Ki Sung-yong and now the son of Korean legend Cha Bum-keun will be joining Ki in Glasgow at the home of Celtic. The fun is only just beginning and will only intensify as mid-August and the start of the European season approaches. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

Football never stops. The World Cup has just finished but a full program of K-League returns this weekend after the summer break. Much has happened since May 9 when the 15 teams were last in action not least the fact that the national team reached the second round in South Africa for the first time ever in a World Cup held overseas. There is always a ‘World Cup effect’ to be felt domestically after the quadrennial competition comes to an end. The beautiful game has been unavoidable for the past few weeks and the success of the national team will give a boost to attendances around the country. How much and for how long, well, those are the questions currently being asked by a number of journalists. As always, we will just have to wait and see. Unfortunately for local fans, many of the stars who shone in South Africa are already back in Europe and not too many K-Leaguers who took the pitch in the Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg will be in action in Gwangju, Ulsan and Incheon over the coming weeks. The ones that did return may have their ranks thinned further as the Taeguk Warriors’ good performances on the global stage caught the eye of European clubs. Defender Cho Yong-hyong has already been linked with a move to English Premier League team Aston Villa and with the European transfer season about to reach full throttle in the next few weeks, more rumors, reports, links and even moves are sure to happen. Other World Cup related K-League action is the fact that a number of teams have had their coach linked to the vacant national team position after Huh Jung-moo stepped down on July 2. There have still been a couple of coaching changes already. The biggest story is that of Cha Bum-kun. South Korea’s 1998 World Cup boss left Suwon Bluewings on June 6 after six years in charge of the two time Asian champion. The first part of the season was a terrible one for the club’s many fans who are accustomed to tasting, or at least getting a whiff of it. After eight defeats in eleven games, Suwon is bottom of the standings. His replacement is an interesting one. Suwon is a team accustomed to big name players and coaches but the club appointed Yoon Sung-hyo. The former Suwon player and assistant coach has enjoyed some success coaching Soongsil University but will find life at the Big Bird a little different. In years to come, the club’s appointment will either be seen as a stroke of genius or symbolic of a lack of ambition. His first K-League match comes against fellow strugglers Daegu FC on Sunday. Incheon United is also in the midst of change. Serbian boss Ilja Petkovic quit in June as his wife was reportedly ill and they wanted to return home. Soon after though, reports came through that Serbia’s 2006 World Cup coach seemingly had his geography a little confused as he ended up in Qatar, a land renowned for lucrative coaching contracts, to take over Al Ahli. Assistant manager Kim Bong-kil will take charge of the team until the end of the season. Ulsan Horangi starts the second part of the season in top spot and face third-placed Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the biggest game of the weekend. Ulsan boss Kim Ho-gon has shown tentative interest in the vacant national team coaching job while his Seongnam counterpart Shin Tae-yong has ruled himself out of the running. By the time the two meet, the decision will be made and there could be a part of Kim hoping that he will not be sat on the UIsan bench on Sunday. The Tigers may be in first place but it is tight at the top with just three points separating first and fifth and six between the leaders and Busan in eighth. Jeju United is a surprise second with Seongnam ,Seoul and Gyeongnam all close behind. There is still more than half of the season to go however and much football to be played. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

It turns out that ‘Koreaphobia’ is a condition not easily cured. For South Korea and China, this week is the ‘decider’. The two neighbours have crossed swords twice this year already with the score resting at 1-1. Events over the next 48 hours will determine which nation emerges as the winner. The Koreans have long had the upper hand when it comes to the beautiful game. In 32 meetings between the two national teams, China had never won. Such a woeful record gave rise to the pseudo-psychological condition that described the fear of playing Korea. It was a term coined in the Middle Kingdom but taken up with gusto in the Land of the Morning Calm. That all changed on a February evening in Tokyo when China shocked the Asian Tigers with a 3-0 win. The result wasn’t flattering in the least and it could easily have been more. The victory was the best moment for Chinese football since they reached the 2004 Asian Cup final. It was greeted with a hail of happy headlines on the west side of the Yellow Sea and provoked gloom, doom and much soul-searching over on the east. Only a 2-0 win over Ivory Coast a month later lightened the mood ahead of the World Cup - that and last week’s results. The Asian Champions League reached the halfway stage and as it did so, Korea’s four representatives in the competition met China’s quartet. Each of the eight groups contains four teams with the top two progressing to the second round. It was a clean sweep for Korea as all four K-League teams triumphed against Chinese Super league opposition. Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma started the week coming back from a goal down at home against the Chinese champion. Beijing Guoan took the lead in the first half due to former Scotland international Maurice Ross but the Yellows hit back with three goals in the final twelve minutes to win 3-1 and stay on course for the second round. Two hours later, Suwon Bluewings recorded a vital 2-0 victory in the Chinese province of Henan to cement its place at the top of Group G. A similar result in Wednesday’s return match at Suwon World Cup Stadium will likely see Cha Bum-keun’s team reach the knockout stage. If Korean players think the winter is dragging on at home then Jeonbuk Motors faced freezing conditions in northern China at the home of Changchun Yatai. Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee wondered aloud if the host watered the freezing pitch overnight in order to turn it into an ‘ice rink’. The charge was denied. It didn’t matter in the end as though Changchun took the lead midway through the second half, late goals from ‘The Prince’ Choi Tae-wook and ‘The Lion King' Lee Dong-gook gave the Motors an impressive win in a tough environment. Changchun visit Jeonju on Tuesday. The fantastic fourth win came on a bitterly cold night in Pohang. The Pohang Steelers were not at their best but still squeezed past the challenge of Shandong Luneng to win 1-0. The visitor missed a late penalty to end a bad week for Chinese soccer. Naturally, it was mentioned by more than one media source in Korea though there was a good deal of restraint showed. The Beijing media was a little depressed but there was at least some sense of perspective from leading newspaper Titan. “Our four teams shouldn’t give up,” said Titan. In the ‘Korea vs. China Asian Championship Series’, we lost 4-0 although the national team won 3-0 last month. We know we couldn't catch up with Japanese and Korean football in one night time but there is a long way to run. Our clubs shouldn’t give up their Asian Champions League hopes. That would be a much bigger shame.” “All four Chinese clubs lost their match in ACL in single matchday, it is the first time this has happened.” Said ‘Soccer’. “And they were all defeated by Korean rivals. We may have cured Koreaphobia in international matches for the first time in 32 years but the shameful results returned.” Such sentiments could easily change over the next 48 hours. Tags Soccer News football

It wouldn’t be the K-League without a strong Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. The Yellows have won seven league titles and possess the biggest trophy cabinet in the southern half of the peninsula. It was 2006 however when the golden trophy last resided just south of Seoul. Since then, Pohang, Suwon and, most recently, Jeonbuk have claimed the mantle. The second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 was a tough time for the club’s fans. Kim Hak-bom had led Seongnam playing attractive and successful football but the gruff tactician’s powers seemed to fade after four years at the helm. At the end of 2008, the former powerhouse looked a little slow and predictable and it was no surprise when Kim was out of the door. The identity of the new man was something of a surprise. Shin Tae-yong may have been called ‘Mr Seongnam’ due to the fact that he spent 12 seasons with the club as a player but when he was appointed as coach, he had little experience to suggest that he could lead the club back to the summit. As his playing career started to come to an end, Shin headed to Australia and the new A-League. The midfielder barely got a chance to show Queensland Roar fans what he was made of before injury intervened. Shin stayed on with the Brisbane-based club as an assistant coach. Still, few expected the 39 year-old to be announced as Seongnam coach for the 2009 season. It didn’t start well. Australian football is regarded as one where power is more prized than technique. Shin seemed to confirm that stereotype by introducing a more direct style to a Seongnam team that had long been known for a fluid passing game. In came giant Montenegrin marksman Dzenan Radoncic – a striker not known for his subtlety - and from Australia came a defender that was just as big, Sasa Ognenovski. The first half few months were disappointing. The team looked disjointed and toothless. Over time though, results and performances started to improve and in the second half of the season, Seongnam was the team in the best form. That was partly due to the arrival of Mauricio Molina. The former Colombian international quickly established himself as the leading foreign player in the league. His goals, his passing, his creativity and set piece ability have all played their parts. Seongnam made it to the final of the championship play-off series at the end of the season, only to lose out to Jeonbuk Motors. Even with the undoubted class of Molina, not much was expected in 2010 as Seongnam lost its midfield heartbeat. Star player Kim Jung-woo answered the call of the military and started his two-year stint with Gwangju Sangmu while partner Lee Ho answered the call of his wallet by accepting a big-money move to UAE club Al Ain. So far at least, they haven’t been missed. Last Friday, Jeonbuk became the first team to score a goal against this Seongnam team in 2010. Prior to that, Shin’s men had won two Asian Champions League matches, defeating the highly-rated Kawasaki Frontale of Japan 2-0 before heading to Australia to win by the same scoreline at the home of Melbourne Victory. Earlier this week came the visit of Beijing Guoan. The Chinese champions, like Seongnam, had won both games so far and took the lead through former Scottish international Maurice Ross. Three goals in the last 12 minutes from the Korean team means that Seongnam are looking very good indeed for a place in the second round. Domestically, the start to the K-League was just as good. An opening weekend 3-0 against Gangwon FC was followed by a demolition of Incheon United. The usually solid west coast team was thrashed 6-0 by a rampant Seongnam. Then the Yellows went to the home of the Jeonbuk and came within a whisker of winning. Only a 94th minute free-kick from Eninho gave the host a 1-1 tie and stopped Seongnam moving to the top of the K-League standings. Jeonbuk coach Choi Kang-hee was relieved after the final whistle. “Seongnam is a very good and balanced team,” said Choi. “It was a really tough game for us and we are just happy that we managed to get a goal at the end.” It is a measure of how well Seongnam is doing that coach Shin was disappointed with a 1-1 tie at the home of the champions. “We missed lots of chances and that is why we didn’t win the game,” he said. “it is always hard to concede such a late goal but overall we played well. We are going well and feeling confident but we know that the season is just beginning.” Tags Soccer News football