Tavern Podcast: is Korea losing it’s edge ? + Tavern Live in 2 days!

The newest Tavern Podcast has arrived. Join Tavern writers in discussing whether Korea has lost ground to Japan…and China spending mad money, importing coaches like Lippi and Korean players like Kim Young-Gwon and Evergrande winning the Asian Champions League, are we now seeing the rise of Chinese football?  What effect could that have on Korean football? And what’s with the super anemic attendance rates in K-League?  Not to be hating on Korean domestic football – let’s be constructive and ask: is there way forward?


> and what’s all this about the Tavern Live?  We’re about to do another experiment in Tavern interactivity as we talk about Hong Myong-bo’s call ups for the upcoming March 5th (March 6 in Korea) friendly in Greece…and you can join in the broadcast live on Feb 28th Friday night at 7PM over here on the US East coast  – translates to 9AM Saturday morning March 1 in Korea. I’ll get the link and info on how to listen in -and join in the discussion — the platform we will use will be on google hangout. Got to go – we will update very soon…

Jinseok wanted to add the following: when I speak about the Asian Cup 2011 match and how we were robbed of a win, I refer to the 2nd goal scored by Japan in the 97th minute (I think that was the number). To recap, the first goal was ours when Yasuyuki Konno barged into PJS with his shoulder as PJS ran into the penalty box and conceded a clear penalty, which Ki converted. Japan’s equalizer came when Yuto Nagatomo exploiting the space Cha Du Ri so frequently leaves behind to deliver a cross to Maeda. When extra time ensued Korea’s Hwang Jae Won fouled Shinji Okazaki CLEARLY OUTSIDE THE PENALTY BOX; moreover, after Jung Sung Ryong saved the unfairly given penalty Hajime Hosogai, who was lurking INSIDE the penalty box before Honda took his shot, ran up and scored – a double illegitimate goal right there. Hwang Jae Won’s dramatic equalizer after Kim Shin Wook instigated a goal scramble should have been an epic 120′ winner, but alas it was not meant to be. However, no time to complain now. What’s done is done and all we can focus on now is cultivating our team and our current young talents into a world force.

Additionally, arranging friendlies seems to be a business almost. The KFA paid a ton of money for the friendlies against Brazil and Spain, for example. Each country’s FA wants a team that will attract spectators (our turnout vs Brazil was insane, remember?) so supporting Jae’s claim, yes, Japan’s more marketable and familiar image definitely gives them an edge.

Jae’s post-thoughts: Not much I want to add here. The last few segments were a bit shorter than I would have hoped as we were short on time. Perhaps in the future the domestic game can be addressed more sufficiently.

About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

7 Comments

  1. Sad but true, even Koreans want to goto J-League, due to the quality of players & better pay… and I hope Kim Jin Kyu will become our future hopeful, Cezero Osaka has been creating a lot of talent for bigger European Clubs……

  2. Thanks for the blog shoutouts Roy. Just to expand on it a bit. Yes, definitely check out kleaguefootball.com, great site. So far, I have three club previews there (for Busan, Suwon, and Seongnam) and by the time the season kicks off I should have a couple more (Jeonbuk, Sangju). There is lots of great stuff there for people who want to read about the K League.

    And yes, if you’re curious about what it’s like to be a K League fan in Korea, check out my other blog busanipark.wordpress.com (it’s on the blogroll).

  3. I’m enjoying the podcast as I write. However, guys, I don’t think the perception of Korea has anything to do with friendly scheduling. It has more to do with the federations and the particular national head coaches. If it was based on reputation, then a whole lot of countries would never get a decent friendly. In the international soccer community, federations are plenty aware of Korean soccer by now. The KFA and Korean coaches simply have to pursue higher quality opponents. I seriously doubt a federation would say, “Well, I’d like to face Japan, but not South Korea.”

    • By the way, the problem regarding with scheduling, in my opinion, is connected to the problems with the KFA in general. The KFA, like so many Korean sports federations, have been so highly nepotistic and short-sighted as one of you stated in the podcast.

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