In Korean football, you are nothing without a nickname. You don’t have to be called to the national team to get one but it helps. This season, we have seen the return to form of a number of old heads and the appearance of some long-unused aliases headlines in the huge portals.

It has been a strange K-League season. The constant stopping and starting has robbed the competition of any momentum. A series of World Cup qualifiers in May and June necessitated a break of a month and by the time play started again in July, the Olympic torch was lit in Beijing and tools were downed once more. Beijing 2008 will receive barely a footnote in the annals of South Korean football history. The draw, defeat and win may have been a better record than any other Asian nation managed in China, including the hosts, but it still meant that the team returned home at the end of the first round. Coach Park Sung-hwa is escaping to study in England. The one-time Busan boss is a man with many friends in the upper echelons of the Seoul media but couldn’t escape a good deal of criticism. What made it worse, for football fans at least, was the fact that the baseball team returned across the Yellow Sea with gold and met with a heroes welcome. The 2002 World Cup gave the world the understandable, but misleading, impression that South Korea was a football mad country. It is not. Baseball is more popular. Even before the gold, television ratings are usually around 60% higher for the average baseball match and attendances tend to be higher. Those Olympic events, coupled with the plodding performances of the senior national team, have led certain sections of the media to say that football is in crisis. Again, it is not but the K-League has some work to do to work its way to somewhere near the hearts and minds of the locals. Not in Suwon though – the city is still a strong football bedrock in the Land of the Morning Calm. The Bluewings regularly play in front of 30,000 or more and 2008 has been a season to remember for those followers. They watched their team put together a record-breaking 11 match winning streak that sent them nine points clear at the top. If it wasn’t for the play-off system and the fact that there aren’t really bookies in Korea in the English sense, the bookies would have considered paying out. To say it has all gone wrong is an overstatement. With three-quarters of the regular season over, Suwon are level on points at the top with Seongnam Ilwha Chunma but the aura of invincibility disappeared in July along with the monsoon weather. A 1-0 defeat at the hands of the struggling Daejeon Citizen was a surprise rather than a shock - Daejeon have a good record against the three-time champions - but what followed was a defeat at home by the same scoreline to rivals Seongnam. Suddenly the goals from star strikers Edu, Shin Young-rok and Seo Dong-hyun dried up. Only a last-minute strike against bottom club Busan avoided a shock defeat and while Suwon are still guaranteed a play-off spot, form must improve if a fourth title is on the cards. The news that star summer signing Lee Chun-soo is injured doesn't help. In five games, Suwon have collected just four points. Every team has a blip and as it comes after a run of 33 from 33, it is not a disaster but in the meantime, Seongnam have been on fire. The seven-time champions have won six out of their last seven. Despite the broken rib of star striker Mota, Seongnam have barely broken their stride. Youngster Han Dong-won has chipped in with three goals in the last two games. Seongnam are looking fresh and confident while Suwon are spluttering. Worse for Suwon is the fact that bitter rivals FC Seoul are in good form and not that far behind in third. If that doesn’t get the Bluewings fired up for this weekend’s clash on the southern island of Jeju, nothing will. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Film fans of a certain age will always see the three Star Wars movies made in the seventies and eighties as the definitive trilogy and not the one which kicked off in 1999 with ‘The Phantom Menace.’ There can be little debate about that. Not so about South Korean star Lee Chun-soo who has been more of a phantom than a menace over the past year. No other player that originates from the Land of the Morning Calm provokes such debate and divides opinions. Over the past few years his career recalls the words of a certain Jedi Master Yoda who said upon meeting Luke Skywalker: "This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing.” Lee always seems to know where he would like to play in the future but is often less sure about the place where he plies his trade at any given moment. Around 18 months ago, the 2002 and 2006 World Cup star told his K-League club Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I that unless they helped him move to Europe, he would go on strike. The attacker soon got his wish and the only strikes on his mind were those that came from boots left and right. Joining former European Champions Feyenoord on the last day of the summer 2007 transfer window seemed to be exactly the move Lee wanted –almost. Talking to the Korean version of 442 before his departure, he announced that he wanted to use Feyenoord as a stepping stone to England. Within a couple of months, he was back home in South Korea, homesick and disillusioned with life in the Netherlands and reportedly telling friends in the media that he wanted to come home to the K-league. After his short sojourn in Seoul, he returned to Rotterdam. Lee failed to shine and an ankle operation ended his season, and as it turned out, his Dutch adventure, early. There is little likelihood he will go back. Suwon Samsung Bluewings paid $800,000 for a year-long loan for the 2005 K-League player of the Year. Few can imagine Lee swapping the blue shirt for the red and white one once again next summer. It was Lee’s second unsuccessful sojourn in Europe after an 18-month spell in Spain after the 2002 World Cup with Real Sociedad and Numancia. After rejoining Ulsan in 2005, Lee quite reasonably pointed out that he hadn’t been ready for the challenge. Next time would be different. It wasn’t really. A third opportunity in the west may be out of reach for Lee. It is a matter of debate as to whether this is good for the Millenium Kid but it is no bad thing for Korean and Asian football. From 2005, when he almost won the K-League title on his own for Ulsan to 2006 when he single-handedly destroyed Japanese opposition in the A3 Champions Cup to the beautiful winning strike against European champions Greece in 2007, Lee was one of the most exciting and complete talents in Asia. Now joining South Korea’s star-studded league leaders Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Lee will have the platform to shine once again as the club challenges for another league title and next year, perhaps a tilt at a third Asian championship. Whether that will be enough for Lee remains to be seen but he still has a lot of football ahead. copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Football is non-stop these days. No sooner did the European club season finish then the European championships started for 16 nations. Now just days after Spain lifted the continental trophy most clubs have started pre-season training and talk in the big leagues is who will go where before the new season gets underway. What about South Korea’s overseas contingent? Well, it is a summer of uncertainty for many though that certainly can’t be said for perennial golden boy Park Ji-sung. Slight knee troubles apart, the 27 year-old is set for a good season in Manchester. It is only two months since the attacker collected a second English Premier League medal and less than that since the club lifted the European Champions League trophy. It was a successful season for Park and next season, providing he steers clear of injury could be even better. This time last year he was recovering from major knee surgery and still five months away from a return to action and the fact that United coach Sir Alex Ferguson was more than active in the transfer market didn’t help. This has been a quiet summer so far at Old Trafford though that could change very quickly if Real Madrid gets its way and buys star player Christiano Ronaldo for a world record transfer deal. There are likely to be few records broken elsewhere. Lee Young-pyo, who starred at PSV Eindhoven along Park from 2002-2005 is set to leave Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and return to the Dutch team. After two and a half steady, if unspectacular, seasons in North London, Lee fell out of favor with Spanish boss Juande Ramos around the turn of the year and had to watch much of the second half of the season from the bench. At the age of 31 and with his place in the national team under serious threat, Lee needs to be playing regular football and is keen to head back across the North Sea to PSV and the Netherlands. Probably on his way out of Holland is Lee Chun-soo. The winger signed for Feyenoord for around $3 million last August. It hasn’t been a successful season for ‘The Millenium Kid’ in Rotterdam. He first suffered from homesickness and then an ankle injury. He is now back in Korea recovering from surgery and he could be about to stay in the Land of the Morning Calm permanently -if any Korean club is prepared to offer the asking price. Seol Ki-hyeon is keen to stay where he is. The Sniper is still a Fulham player and later this month will tour South Korea with the London club. When the games in Busan and Ulsan are over, he could also be out of the door at Craven Cottage. The powerful attacker hasn’t featured in a league match since January and with boss Roy Hodgson set to splash the cash ahead of the new season, Seol has to show that he is still worth a spot in the starting eleven. He is ready to do just that as he told reporters at Incheon airport last week (looking like a psychedelic rice farmer). “There has been nothing happening, I have just been resting. The important thing from now is to play as well to stay with the team.” Lee Dong-guk is definitely on the move, the only question is to where? The Lion King’s contract at Premier League club Middlesbrough ended last month with the striker having failed to score a single league goal since arriving in England in January 2007. It was a time to forget for the former Pohang Steelers star who is also banned from the national team until the end of this year. Lee would like to stay in England but anywhere in Europe would be acceptable. Until now however, Japanese clubs are the most interested suitors. There are no such worries for the ‘fifth Premier Leaguer’ - as he is known by the Seoul media – yet.. Kim Do-heon is a relative newcomer and only joined West Brom on a full transfer in May. The midfielder first headed to England in January on a loan deal. He did enough to secure a permanent deal and the Birmingham club did enough to earn promotion to England’s top division. There is still much time left this summer for deals to done and contracts signed and it will be interesting to see where the Korean stars end up when the first ball is kicked at the start of the 2008-09 European season. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Dennis Murray is head of GSEN Europe, an agency that specialises in helping South Korean players move to Europe. Murray is the man who negotiated Lee Chun-soo’s recent transfer to Feyenoord and he found time for a quick chat regarding the transfer. Tell us about GSEN. GSEN Korea is managed by Kim Dong-guk and looks after players like Lee Young-pyo, Seol Ki-hyeon and a few other players. In the Netherlands, Lee Young- pyo's manager and I discussed about me doing business for GSEN. I started the European headquarters in order to help put Korean players in European clubs.

It has been a good week for South Korean footballers and their exploits caused the ever-happy presenter on SBS sports news to smile even wider last week. “Finally”, she beamed, “Lee Dong-gook scores in England for Middlesbrough.” The next evening, she was at it again. “At the last moment, Lee Chun-soo returns to Europe.” After seven months, eleven appearances and no goals with Premier League team Middlesbrough, the Lion King was looking less regal and more ragged by the week. Minutes spent on the pitch in the north-east of England were never plentiful but were dwindling further, as was his confidence.

Despite an exceptionally mild winter on the Korean peninsula, the media gloomily predicted that the K-League opening round of fixtures would be played under foul weather. According to the 14 coaches, it didn't matter as they promised that a new era of attractive football would at least brighten moods, if not skies.

Lee Chun-soo: Big Mouth, Big Talent £100 FREE BET BASKET FOR NEW CUSTOMERS Register with bet365 to qualify for up to £100 in Free Bets. Your first bet will be matched (up to £25) with 3 x free bets (up to £25) available once you’ve placed an additional 10, 20 and 30 bets of £5 or more with bet365 . His mouth has always been as big as his talent - but such a combination is hardly unique to Lee Chun-soo. Dutch legend Johann Cruyff was as talkative off the pitch as he was supremely gifted on it, and Diego Maradona was hardly shy on either side of the white line. Lee is not in the same league as those two world stars, but as one of Korea's best and most famous players, he makes headlines on and off the field. He has done both over the past few days. Last Tuesday evening, he was in action for the national team in London. The opposition was Greece; a physical team with a style of play modeled more on the mighty Ajax than the wily Odysseus. It was Lee, however, who demonstrated that, on the pitch at least, he has as many tricks up his sleeve as the king of ancient Ithaca. Twelve minutes from time with the score goalless, the 25-year-old curled home a free-kick of rare precision and power. It proved to be the only goal of the game and was a worthy winner. The Korean media went wild with delight and Lee, a player who is prone to saying what he feels and thus provoking strong feelings among fans in his homeland, was universally lauded all across the Land of the Morning Calm. It was fitting that just after missing out on a move to England in January that the winger should have excelled in London, in front of a host of scouts and agents. More than a few of those would have been relieved that Lee's proposed move to Wigan Athletic of the English Premier League fell through and therein lies the problem. Lee's Korean club, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-I, declared that Wigan pulled the plug but the player's version of events is different as he told the media in no uncertain terms. Returning to Incheon International Airport, supposedly to join his club in preseason training later this week, he was met by a throng of eager reporters. The scribes wanted a word with the man of the hour and were as surprised as anyone as he dropped a bombshell that may have been best left at customs. "Ulsan has to promise to help me get a transfer to Europe in July," the baseball cap-wearing star announced. "If they don't, I may just rest for the next six months." Amid the squeaking wheels of the trolleys, the instant evaporation of the goodwill that was felt toward Lee could be heard. The reaction to his threat was almost universally negative. Certainly his club was none too pleased. More so, as the star also demanded that Ulsan sell him cheaply or follow the example set by of neighbors Pohang Steelers who let Lee Dong-gook join Middlesbrough for free in January. After paying almost $3 million to buy him back from Real Sociedad in 2005, Ulsan are unlikely to do so especially as the younger Lee has more than12 months left on his contract, while the older one had less than two. "The club is not a charity," sniffed Ulsan president Kim Hyong-ryeong. Lee's remarks were more along the lines of giving vent to his understandable frustrations at not playing in one of the world's best leagues than any arrogance - but he needs to be careful. A self-imposed exile however would not only see the player lose his place on the national team, as Ahn Jung-hwan knows only too well, it would also cost him his chance to strut his stuff at July's Asian Cup - a continental competition and global magnet for scouts and coaches. With the Lee Chun-soo stock rising abroad, it would be foolish to give the impression that he is a troublemaker. Any coach will admit that a new signing is a gamble; one from overseas more so and interested parties could be forgiven for thinking twice about importing a player who may refuse to play if he doesn't get his way. After he was banned for six games for swearing at a referee only three months ago, Lee promised to become more mature. As a player, he is doing nicely, but as a person, there is still some way to go. K-League News Soccer Book Reviews Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile K-League soccer football Korea Lee Chun-soo John Duerden Korean Soccer

2006 saw Lee Chun-soo impress at the World Cup and almost everywhere else he played while national team-mate Lee Dong-gook was left nursing a torn cruciate ligament and shattered dreams of missing out on a second World Cup.

Ahn Returns It’s that time of the year again when it feels like half of the K-League is on the move. The close season in Korea is a frantic affair and at times hard to keep up with.