South Kolea: It's a Dog eat Dog World Cup

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Ray Parlour > South Kolea: It's a Dog eat Dog World Cup

Pissflaps: Oct 20, 2002; by VideoGames

South Korea.

quote:

The Korea Republic (South Korea) national football team represents South Korea in international association football and is controlled by the Korea Football Association.

South Korea is one of the most successful Asian teams and has participated in eight consecutive and nine overall FIFA World Cup tournaments, the most for any Asian team. Despite going through five World Cup tournaments without winning a match, South Korea became the first and currently only Asian team to reach the semi-final stages when they co-hosted the 2002 tournament with Japan. They have since improved their ability to play on foreign soil and were able to reach the Round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup. They also won the first two editions of the AFC Asian Cup, though they have since been unable to be victorious.

The team is commonly nicknamed "The Reds" by both fans and the media due to the color of their primary kit. This is led to the creation of an official supporting group referred to as the Red Devils in 1995.

In the 2011 AFC Asian Cup they finished second in their group, losing to Australia on goal difference. They defeated Iran 1�0 in the quarter-finals and faced rivals Japan in the semi-finals. The match ended 2-2 but South Korea was defeated 3-0 in a penalty shoot-out. They faced and defeated Uzbekistan 3-2 to get third place for the second Asian Cup in a row. South Korea narrowly qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by finishing second in their group via goal difference. Head coach Choi Kang-hee took responsibility for the team's poor performance and resigned following the loss to Iran in the last match of qualification. He was replaced by former player Hong Myung-Bo, who had captained the 2002 World Cup team and coached the under-23 team to a third place finish at the 2012 Olympics.

But who are the South Korean football stars? Do they have the pedigree chum to compete at the world's premier football tourny?

Ha Dae-sung