Lee Young-pyo, left, of Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, and Park Ji-sung of Manchester United knocked the K-League for not fully supporting the national team. / Korea Times File |
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The K-League is taking heat for its failure to fully support the national team.
The criticism comes after the league reluctantly agreed to release a limited number of players to the national team for upcoming friendlies, after first stating that it would not release any players.
"It is nonsense that the league changed its initial schedule for a friendly against Manchester United, but it refused to send players for the national team's matches,'' Lee Young-pyo of Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia said Saturday on his arrival in Korea to join Huh Jung-moo's squad on Tuesday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) and the K-League clashed over the national team's schedule ― matches with Australia on Sept. 5 and Senegal on Oct. 10 ― two weeks ago when the league said it would not allow its players to play for the national team.
After the national team switched the date of a friendly with Senegal from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, the two associations managed to reach a compromise.
The K-League agreed to provide a limited number of players for the Australia friendly and the national team agreed to fill as many roster spots as possible with footballers playing abroad.
In addition, K-League players will not have to report to national team training until Sept. 3 instead of Sept. 1, when the players from foreign clubs report.
"I think the league being at the head of the issue is not good for the development of the Korean football.''
Manchester United winger Park Ji-sung backed his former PSV Eindhoven teammate.
"Declining to release players is a shame. Which league in the world runs its games on the international match day?'' Park said after a league match against Arsenal on Sunday morning (KST).
"Of course, it is a matter between the KFA and K-League. But I wonder if the league is anxious to achieve good results at the World Cup.''
Lee, who has played 106 games on the national team since 1999, added: "With one year to go for the World Cup, the league does not seem to be too concerned about it. Football systems and players in Korea have improved a lot, but the league has not improved since I was playing there.''
He played in the local league until 2002 before moving to the Netherlands.
"The J-League and Chinese Super League have shown progress of late, but the K-League seems not to worry about upgrading in quality.
According to Lee, this type on conflict over player releases is unusual in other countries.
"Player release is not an issue overseas. In Saudi Arabia, players are summoned to train eight days before an international match, not two,'' said the 32-year-old fullback, who also played for Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League (EPL) and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga in Germany.
In Japan, the two domestic football associations are not plagued by the issue because they have dialogue on it all the time, according to J-League President Kenji Onitake.
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