2020 another big year in Korean soccer

By John Duerden

There's never a dull moment when it comes to Korean soccer and that is sure to be the case next year. There will be plenty of action in 2020.

It starts in January at the Asian U-23 Championships. The tournament is a nice one to win in its own right but the biggest prize on offer is a ticket to Tokyo. The top three teams from the championships qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

It won't be easy with a group that contains defending champion Uzbekistan, Iran as well as China. The last time Korea's men did not appear at the Olympics soccer tournament was 1984 and not making Japan next summer is almost unthinkable.

The same is true when it comes to the World Cup. Qualification resumes in March as Turkmenistan visits the Land of the Morning Calm. As things stand, the Central Asian team sits on top of Group H with four games down and four to go.

Korea is a point behind but with three of the four remaining at home will be expecting to take maximum points in order to finish first and progress to the next stage when things really get serious.

Korea needs to improve next year if the team is going to continue its proud record of appearing at the World Cup ― it was 1982 when it last did not happen. Coach Paulo Bento will surely be calling upon star man Son Heung-min as often as possible. The forward ended 2019 with a Christmas rest after a red card earned against Chelsea came with a three-game suspension.

Tottenham Hotspur is not going to challenge for the English Premier League title but is in the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. The London team reached the final of the tournament last June and will not be too scared of facing RB Leipzig in February. By that time, international colleague Hwang Hee-chan could also be in England as Wolverhampton Wanderers is reportedly interesting in signing the forward from Red Bull Salzburg.

There are other exports to keep an eye on. Shin Tae-yong, the man who coached South Korea at the 2018 World Cup and led Seongnam to the 2010 Asian Champions League title, has taken over the national team of Indonesia. If Shin can wake up one of the world's sleeping giants of soccer then he will almost be as popular as Park Hang-seo in Vietnam.

Park was a member of the coaching staff at the 2002 World Cup as Korea reached the last four while Seol Ki-hyeon was a star of the team. Seol ―who played in the English Premier League in the previous decade ―has taken his first head coach position and will try and lead Gyeongnam FC back into the top tier of the K League.

The K League had a good 2019 with a rise in attendances. A similar spike in 2020 show that it was not a blip but perhaps the start of something significant. That really would be something to welcome.