If you had told a South Korean fan that by the time they hosted the UAE in their second game of 2010 World Cup qualification in Seoul on Wednesday one of the teams would have a new coach, all would have assumed that Huh Jung-moo had been replaced. The talk in Korean football circles at the moment is one of crisis - and everyone agrees. "This talk of crisis in Korean football is right," Manchester United's Park Ji-sung declared when he landed back in the Land of the Morning Calm last week. "We have an opportunity to get out of this by defeating the UAE and then we can prepare for the rest of the games a little more comfortably."
How did it come to this? South Korea's only game in Grooup Two so far was a 1-1 draw with North Korea in Shanghai - not a spectacular result, but as the UAE would testify, not a bad one either. But it was greeted badly back in Seoul. Huh's appointment last December was also met coolly. After high-profile rejections from the former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier and the former Ireland boss Mick McCarthy, a chastened Korean FA turned to Huh - a man with a mediocre record in the K-League but one who had performed well in cup competition. The Steve McClaren comparisons are worrying.
The previous round of qualification saw Korea top their group but fail to impress the fans. The football was pedestrian, goals hard to come by and leadership lacking. Later in the summer, fans turned their attention to the Olympics. The football tournament is a big deal in East Asia and although the team, coached by Park Sung-hwa, collected four points in the group games, it was soon back in Seoul. At the same time, the baseball team were on their way to gold and a hero's welcome.
With baseball, a long-time rival for Korean affections, suddenly everywhere, football fans looked to Shanghai and the September World Cup clash with North Korea to restore some pride. Instead, it was a 1-1, and a fortunate 1-1 at that. Huh returned to Korea to say: "I take full responsibility but it's not good to blame too much". The Korea FA told him that he had much work to do in training. The media started to discuss what not qualifying for a seventh successive World Cup would mean.
It is not only the media that are worried. The team are less confident than in the past. Scoring goals has never come easy for East Asian nations but it is getting worse, and when coupled with a defence that is prone to lapses in concentration, then South Africa is not a given. There is hope, however, despite injuries to Kim Do-heon of the Premier League club West Brom and the former Feyenoord player Lee Chun-soo as well as a suspension for the captain Kim Nam-il. Park Ji-sung, Kim's replacement as the captain, and Borussia Dortmund's Lee Young-pyo are back after missing last month's match. The teenage midfielders Ki Sung-young and especially Lee Chung-young have bright futures ahead of them and shone in the 3-0 friendly win against a fairly disinterested Uzbekistan on Saturday. The usual fringe player Lee Keun-ho scored twice and did enough to earn a start on Wednesday.
The departure of Bruno Metsu was widely reported in Seoul by the same media that once scared him off. The shaggy-haired Frenchman agreed to take control of the Taeguk Warriors in 2004 but changed his mind, reportedly due to the sheer number of phone calls he received from the press as the news started to break. Dominque Bathenay is less well-known and Korea expect the UAE to defend in Seoul and look for the counter-attack. The hosts expect to make all the running. "We are looking to attack from the start and dominate the game," Huh said. "Qualification starts now and we will give it everything we have." @Email:sports@thenational.ae
