Hope for World Cup

Korean footballers, do your best!

Korean football fans now can't wait to see if their national team will repeat their feat of 2002 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The quadrennial event is to kick off in South Africa on Friday for a month-long run. First of all, Koreans hope their squad will advance to the second round by performing better than ever.

The so-called Taegeuk Warriors have been training hard to adapt to the winter season and highlands of the host country. Team manager Huh Jung-moo and all 23 selected players are now busy preparing themselves to meet their rivals in Group B ― Greece, Argentine and Nigeria. The first thing they should do is to make thorough preparations to perform better and bring good news back home.

People are proud of the track record of the national team that has made it to the World Cup finals seven times in a row, although its squad still has a lot to do to keep up with the world's top-ranking teams. The Taegeuk Warriors reached the semifinals in the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002, bringing about a World Cup fever throughout the nation.

We still vividly remember the scenes in central Seoul and other major cities across the nation of those who gathered in red shirts to support the national team. They were collectively called the Red Devils, and created a new cheering culture to help Korean footballers outperform themselves and surprise the world with their success.

It is not easy to revive the 2002 World Cup fever as this year's finals will take place in South Africa. But people back home will want to see the national team perform well again. This aspiration was well reflected in a recent survey that found two-thirds of Koreans expect the national squad to advance to the second round of matches among the 16 strongest teams.

To realize the public's expectations, Korean players are required to win their first match with the Greeks on Saturday. Greece was the Euro 2004 champion. No one knows the exact odds. But there is a good chance for the Taegeuk Warriors to beat their European rivals if they play to the best of their ability. If Korea loses out to Greece, it will face an uphill battle in the remaining games. Argentina, a two-time winner of the World Cup, is seen as the strongest team in Group B, while Nigeria is an African football power.

What's important is for the Korean team to have confidence. On Monday, South African President Jacob Zuma stressed the motto of the games: ``ke nako" which means ``we can." We hope that the Korean team and other contenders will show this can-do spirit to realize their World Cup dreams.