Park Chu-young is back into his groove
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FC Seoul’s Park Chu-young, second from left, celebrates after scoring a goal in a K League football match against Incheon United, July 17. / Yonhap
By John Duerden
When Park Chu-young let the ball fly from about 25 meters on July 17 and scored one of the goals of the 2016 K-League Classic season, surely it made fans of teams other than FC Seoul smile.
The striker has had a tough few years in football and as he celebrated at the home of Incheon United with his Seoul teammates (not with his usual kneeling prayer ceremony but with a football up the shirt to celebrate the new arrivals to the families of teammates Osmar Barba and Shim Woo-yeon), he looked happier on the pitch than he has done for some time. He is finally back in his groove.
Park turned 31 earlier this month and has the maturity and experience to enjoy what is turning into a good season ― a good season without the need to make it into anything more.
If anyone knows the perils and pitfalls of hype then it is the Daegu native who was hailed as a star by the time he started his professional career in 2005. His first season with FC Seoul went well, too well. Park scored goals, the country’s stadiums were full when he visited and the media demanded a place for him on the national team.
His debut for his country came in June when he scored a vital last-minute equalizer in Uzbekistan in a qualifier for the 2006 World Cup. Days later, Park scored in Kuwait as Korea clinched its place in Germany. Park continued to find the net at home and headlines of ‘legend’ started. It helped nobody, least of all the 2004 Young Asian Player of the Year.
To cut a long story short, Park couldn’t live up to the early hype and was no longer stealing the show by the time he signed for AS Monaco in 2008. His time in the French league helped him develop as a player and he was soon establishing himself as Korea’s top striker. The period for the national team between 2009 and 2012 was his best.
It all went wrong with a surprise move to English Premier League giant Arsenal in August 2011. Park had done well enough in Monaco to earn a move to Lille, the French champion. It would probably have been the ideal move but one quick phone call from Arsenal’s famed coach Arsene Wenger and it all changed.
Park’s time in London was not happy and he played just seven minutes. If his reputation in England was struggling to get off the ground, in March 2012, it fell sharply in Korea. The player’s three years in Monaco allowed his lawyers to take advantage of a loophole and delay his impending military service, mandatory for all able-bodied males, by a decade. In short, instead of having to leave London and return home for 21 months, he could finish his career first.
The reaction was fierce and mostly negative. Some commentators felt he should not be allowed to play for the country again and only a public apology in June 2012 paved the way for him to represent Korea at the 2012 Olympics where he helped the team take bronze and earn a total exemption from military duty.
Still the controversy rumbled on and the lack of game time at Arsenal led to Park’s fading from the national team picture. He was selected however by new coach Hong Myung-bo for the 2014 World Cup and did little to impress, though few teammates could say otherwise. The reaction at home was negative and Park’s time as a star of the Korean game was gone.
In March 2015, he returned to Korea and FC Seoul. This season he has started to impress watchers and has taken advantage of some serious game time by scoring six goals in seven starts.
At 31, he is well into the second half of what is already a long and varied career. Just to be on the field and scoring goals is enough for Park these days.