Cheerful challenge

Koreans’ dream can be realized _ once again

Over the past eight years, Korean football fans’ wishes were that their national squad reached the second round of the World Cup finals abroad. At least one third of their dream was realized in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Saturday, as the Korea’s best 11 beat their Greek counterparts 2-0 in the first of their three Group B matches.

Of course, South Korea advanced to semifinals in 2002 World Cup it co-hosted with Japan by winning over such traditional soccer powers as Italy, Spain and Portugal. But the miraculous feat has been grossly played down as being owed to a home turf advantage. As if to back it up, the nation’s only win outside of home has been over Togo in Germany in 2006.

So it must be an especially hilarious experience for coach Huh Jung-moo, who characterized Korea’s goal in 2010 World Cup as a ``cheerful challenge,” that he became the first Korean manager to win in a World Cup abroad.

So far, the Korean footballers have made up for their physical and technical inferiority with more diligent and better organized plays. It will remain largely the same this time, as South Korea lags far behind all of its group adversaries in FIFA rankings. It was good to see, however, that the gap in physique and technique with their European and Latin American and African counterparts is narrowing rapidly, as this country has several top athletes playing in the big leagues of England, France and Germany.

The road to the Group of 16 may still prove to be tough, considering this country was eliminated in the group stage four years ago after winning its opening game but adding only a single point in its final two games.

So coach Huh’s foremost duty will be to avoid a repeat by combining his tactical ingenuity with the improved personal capacities of his hard-running and highly-motivated players.

Much will also depend on the cheering fervor of 70 million Koreans both at home abroad. Almost 1 million Koreans braved early summer drizzle to stage mass cheering in large boulevards of Seoul and other metropolises, while some overseas Koreans had to sacrifice their sound sleep at dawn to affirm the sense of oneness through the world’s most popular and ``beautiful” _ as soccer legend Pele put it _ game.

It remains to be seen whether the Koreans will be able to have the same emotional outburst they felt eight years ago.

But nothing is impossible in the world of football, as no one knows where the round ball finally stops. So it won’t be bad for the people to fall in the temporary _ and legitimized _ deviation from and oblivion of this grim reality, however self-awakening its aftermath may be.