By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The year 2010 is shaping up to be big for Korean sports. The Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the Asian Games will all take place in the next 12 months. Also, FIFA will name two more World Cup hosts and four Korean teams will vie for the Asian Champions League crown. Here are five of the biggest questions on the minds of sports fans for 2010:
South Korea, the co-host of the 2002 World Cup, has been bidding to bring the tournament back to the Asian continent.
The nation, which declared its bid in February, will compete against nine candidates - Australia, England, Japan, the United States, Russia, Indonesia and Qatar, along with joint bids from Belgium and the Netherlands, and Spain and Portugal.
With the next two World Cups taking place in Africa and South America, its widely believed the 2018 tournament will be held in Europe, which is why Korea, along with Indonesia and Qatar are only bidding for the 2022 event.
The East Asian country, which will play in its seventh successive World Cup finals this summer, has world-class infrastructure and stadiums already in place, and all venues are reachable in one hour by plane and within three hours by high-speed trains or other means of transportation.
Thanks to its state-of-the-art IT technology, Korea can offer superb broadcast capabilities and the Korean business community is expected to support the bid, as it did the 2002 bid.
Korea has also floated the idea of co-hosting the tournament with North Korea, which would be a symbolic gesture toward unification.
The major drawback against the Korean bid is that it has been just 20 years since the nation last held the quadrennial event while other potential bidders have waited much longer.
With the exception of the 2002 World Cup held on home soil, South Korea has had little to show for its seven trips to the tournament. The nation has never advanced beyond the group stage on foreign soil and had just one victory, a 2-1 triumph against Togo in Germany, four years ago.
But South Korea has received a manageable draw at the South Africa World Cup in June, as Huh Jung-moo's side will face Argentina, Nigeria and Greece.
For the Korean team, seeking its first road victory in the event, the 12th-ranked Greek squad, the Euro 2004 winner, is seen as the team that Korea could pick up three points against.
The star-studded Argentine football team, led by the nation's football great Diego Maradona, is a top seed, but it did not play up to its billing as the world No. 8 in its qualifying campaign, placing fourth in South America.
If Korea can better adapt to playing at the energy-sapping high altitude of Johannesburg ― Soccer City Stadium, where Korea will meet Argentina, sits at 5,558 feet ― then there may be a slim chance the Taeguk warriors could surprise the football heavyweight, which suffered a 6-1 rout against Bolivia at high altitude.
The 22nd-ranked Nigerians will be the X-factor for Korea, which is likely to need two wins and one loss or one win and two draws to advance.
Although Korea has a 2-1-0 record against the Super Eagles, the Taeguk Warriors have traditionally struggled against African nations.
Cleveland Indians' budding star Choo Shin-soo is expected to provide a big boost to South Korea's drive for its third gold medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November.
The 27-year-old outfielder, who batted .300 with 20 homers, 89 RBIs and 21 steals this past season, has stated his desire to play against Korea's regional baseball rivals, such as Japan and Taiwan, this year.
"I'm ready to join the national squad, if I get a call,'' he said earlier this month upon his return to Korea.
"I have been talking with my club about the issue. I want to take part in the Asian Games."
In addition to playing for national pride, Choo will also be playing for an exemption from military service, which he must complete by 2012. Any Korean athlete who wins gold at the Asian games or any medal at the Olympics wins the right to forgo military service.
Korea will be one of the favorites to win gold, especially with Choo batting cleanup, as Japan will reportedly field a team of amateur players at the quadrennial event.
With an emerging long track speed skating team and a gold medal favorite in women's figure skating, South Korea could record its biggest medal haul ever at the Winter Olympic Games this February in Vancouver.
Korea had its biggest medal haul ever four years ago in Turin with six gold, three silver and two bronze. While the nation has traditionally garnered plenty of podium finishes in short track speed skating ― a total of 17 gold medals all time ― Korea's long track speed skating team is on the rise, winning four gold, five silver and six bronze medals at the World Cup this past season.
Lee Kang-seok and Lee Kyou-hyuk finished first and second overall in the men's 500 meters with 523 and 521 points, respectively, and are two prime candidates to win Korea's first gold medal at the Winter Games in a sport other than short track.
Although Kyou-hyuk was second in points, the 31-year-old four-time Olympian collected three gold medals in the distance.
The short track skaters struggled in the final two World Cup events with just three gold medals, but are still expected to be a powerhouse in Vancouver. With the exception of the women's 1,000 meters, Korea will have three competitors ― the maximum per nation ― in each of the short track events.
Expectations will be looming large for figure skater Kim Yu-na. Anything less than a gold medal will be considered a failure. But she is almost a certain lock, barring injury, to win Korea's first ever medal in figure skating.
Four K-League sides ― Pohang Steelers, Jeonbuk Motors, Seongnam Chunma and Suwon BlueWings ― will compete at the 2010 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, scheduled to start on Feb. 23.
Newly-crowned K-League champions Jeonbuk and FA Cup winner Suwon have gotten easy draws, while Pohang, the reigning champion, and Seongnam will need to be at their best to reach the second round.
Motors, the 2006 Champions League winner, will have to take on Kashima Antlers, the J-League's three-time reigning champion, but Indonesian outfit Persipura Jayapura and China's Changchun Yatai are not seen as threats to Jeonbuk's quest for its second crown at the annual event.
BlueWings will meet Henan Construction of China and a playoff winner along with Gamba Osaka, which won the competition in 2008.
Pohang, which recently lost former boss Sergio Farias to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahly, has a hard trek to defend its title, as it will take on Adelaide United, which defeated Steelers twice two years ago, 2008 Chinese Super League champion Shandong Luneng and Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Despite coming in fourth in the J-League, as the winners of the Japanese Emperor's Cup, Gamba Osaka has already secured their Champions League place.
Chunma has the worst scenario among the Korean representatives, as it will play Kawasaki Frontale, which has finished second three times in the last four years in Japan, Chinese champion Beijing Guoan and the A-League's Melbourne Victory.