59th All Eyes on Koreas at 2010 World Cup
By Dave Durbach
Korea Times Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG ― Streets will fall silent, sick-days will be called, classrooms will be empty, excuses will be made.
For two months next year, the hearts and minds of the world will be preoccupied with one thing - the beautiful game. For the first time in history, the most watched sporting event in the world will be held on African soil.
And what's more, it will also be a first for the Korean peninsula, with both North and South Korea taking part.
In South Africa, excitement and activity have been mounting in recent months, as the day draws nearer. Construction on all 10 stadiums is nearing completion. Millions more is being spent on upgrading public transport, roads, accommodation and public safety. Things are happening. People are talking. The nation is almost ready to welcome the world
The host team, on the other hand, is another story. The team emerged as an international power in the late '90s but since the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, the team has seen a steady decline.
A coaching controversy is just the latest in a string of setbacks for the squad and the chances of a South African breakthrough set to a chorus of vuvuzelas is looking more remote by the day.
South Korea, meanwhile, has made it look easy this time around in finishing atop its qualifying group. They remain undefeated in 26 games, their last loss coming in a friendly against Chile almost two years ago.
A couple of wins in upcoming matches in Europe later this year could put optimism at an all-time high for South Korea and lead to dreams of another miracle run reminiscent of 2002.
It will be South Korea's seventh consecutive World Cup, their first being way back in 1954. They had to wait until 2002 to host their first World Cup game.
They put on a legendary show as co-hosts that year, famously making it to the semis, trampling Portugal, Spain and Italy in the process. Next year, under the leadership of "Three Lung" Park Ji-Sung, coach Huh Jung-Moo and 48 million Red Devils will be eyeing a spot in the quarterfinals.
This World Cup will be the first in which both North and South Korea will compete. The last time North Korea participated, they trounced favorites Italy to make it into the last eight. That was in 1966, however, and it remains to be seen whether this yearmodel can repeat the exploits of the famous "Red Mosquitos," the best World Cup performance by any Asian team ever, until South Korea's run in 2002.
The North Koreans booked their tickets to South Africa by drawing with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in June, despite being down to 10 men for most of the game. The result left them second in their group and came two years after they kicked off their campaign with a win over Mongolia. They've earned respect for their gritty teamwork and rock solid defensive play, built around goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk and skipper Nam Song-chol.
When the two Koreas met in the qualifying rounds, a 1-1 stalemate in Shanghai in September, 2008 was the third consecutive draw between the two teams, before South Korea's 1-0 victory in Seoul on April 1st.
In the past, athletes from North and South have marched together during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic and Asian Games. A unified team was mooted to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the plan never materialized. Chances of a unified team for South Africa range from unlikely to laughable. However, the first African World Cup will certainly provide a golden opportunity for Koreans from either side of the DMZ to unite in support of one another.
SOUTH AFRICA
This World Cup has been a long time in coming for South Africa, which controversially lost the bid for the 2006 Cup to Germany by a single vote.
An international pariah for decades because of apartheid, it was only in the early 1990s that South Africa returned to the international sporting arena.
During apartheid, football, like everything else in South Africa, was divided along racial lines, with separate "national" football associations for whites, blacks, "colored" people and Indians.
In 1991, the unified South African Football Association (SAFA) was established. Since entering the international fray in 1992, South Africa's national team, affectionately known as Bafana Bafana ("The Boys, The Boys") won the continental crown in 1996, and went on to qualify for the World Cup in 1998 and 2002.
Since then, however, South African football fans have borne witness to a steady decline in form, consistently poor results and a long fall in the international rankings.
By 2006, just over a decade after winning the African Nations Cup, Bafana proved incapable of scoring a single goal in any of their matches in the tournament.
In 2007, with pressure (read: desperation) mounting, World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was given the job of leading the team to the Cup, along with a salary of over R1.8 million (285 million won) a month.
The ship appeared to be steadying until the Brazilian quit abruptly in April 2008, citing his wife's ill health.
Upon Parreira's recommendation, fellow Brazilian Joel Santana was named as his replacement, despite his complete lack of experience in international football. During his subsequent 17-month tenure, Santana proved spectacularly unpopular, thanks to a dismal performance record, poor tactics and a stubborn unwillingness to consult local experts.
On Oct. 19, following bumbling losses to Norway and Iceland, Santana finally got the chop. One week later, Parreira was back in the mix.
With eight months to go until the World Cup kicks off, with Parreira back at the helm and a newly elected SAFA leadership calling the shots, South Africa have a lot of work to do if they are to make an impression during the Cup, having recently sunk to their lowest FIFA ranking since 1993 (85th).
The debate rages on in South Africa as to whether Bafana need a local or foreign coach. In either case, chopping and changing won't help inspire the team's players, particularly Premier League stars like Benni McCarthy and Steven Pienaar, already estranged from the national setup.
By comparison, the longevity and local expertise of Korea's coaches Huh Jong-moo and Kim Jong-Hun has surely been a major factor in their teams' successes.
South African football fans are notoriously fickle. If only Bafana's preparations were running as smoothly as the construction around the country. Hopefully they can turn their fortunes around and put in a strong performance worthy of a host next year. In any case, if they get knocked out early, I know who I'll be cheering for.
Our South African correspondent is currently based in Johannesburg, after living in Chungju, Chung-Buk Do until March 2009.