From: Hildegaard Beauregard [ljlife@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 6:50 AM
Subject: But then there's Korea

The Republic of Korea, or South Korea, that is. They
didn't just win for the first time in their World Cup
history, they dominated Poland, and won 2-0. Poland
was the first team to qualify in Europe. I suppose
it's not good for the U.S., since they are in the same
group, but I was loving every minute of this match and
rooting for Korea to keep their lead and even add to
it. They had numerous chances, and the score could
easily have been 4-0 or so. (Goal differential counts
in the event the teams are tied on group points, so
every extra goal above an opponent can be help in the
group outcome.)

In recent friendly matches, Korea has done
astonishingly well: they beat Scotland 4-2, they tied
England 1-1, and they just lost to defending world
champion France 3-2. This match bore out their
development, and if they continue like this, they
could become a favorite of the tournament, and the
legendary home factor could come into play again. (It
was not supposed to figure in this first Cup in Asia,
presuming the superiority of European and South
American teams.)

Korea was fast, flowing, moved all around Poland, got
to the ball much better, even with headers to bring
down long balls, their fleetness, agility and better
timing more than making up for the size of their
opponents. Compared to Japan, Korea was much better
organized with their attack. I don't know what the
total number of chances or shots on goal was, but the
difference between them and Poland had to be drastic.

The Asian football association has been asking FIFA to
grant more places to Asia in the World Cup. After the
way Saudi Arabia -- the Middle Eastern teams, except
for Israel, are in the Asian qualifying region --
played against Germany, it seems that FIFA is
justified in still keeping the distribution. But
Korea, Japan and now even China are making great
strides, with players in the European leagues, and
their improvement in competition in this tournament
will be great for Asian football. China also played
last night, losing to Costa Rica 2-0, but they looked
sound in competition (not like Saudi Arabia). They are
led by old Bora Milutinovic, the sixth team he has
taken to the World Cup (the U.S. was one once, if you
remember, and so was Costa Rica). But in that match,
my sympathies were with Costa Rica, the team that
placed first in the qualifying region of the U.S. and
Mexico.