On the evening of July 27, 2022, in the final match of the 2022 East Asian Football Confederation (EAFF) E-1 Championship held at Toyota Stadium in Japan, the Korean men’s soccer team, led by coach Paulo Bento, lost to the Japanese men’s team 3-0.
This defeat not only canceled the Korean national team’s 4th straight victory in the East Asian Football Confederation (EAFF) E-1 Championship, but also the 3-0 defeat in the away evaluation match last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the South Korean men’s national team lost again to Japan. suffered the humiliation of Above all, coach Paulo Bento set the record of being defeated twice in a row against Japan and Korea, which would have been controversial if it had been a domestic manager.
In the aftermath of such a catastrophic defeat, Korean football has already been overtaken by Japanese football, and there is even a pessimistic view that the gap will widen in the future. In the quarterfinals of the 2022 AFC U23 Asian Championship held in Uzbekistan on June 12, 2022, the men’s national team, as well as the national team, suffered the disgrace of a 3-0 defeat to the Japanese U-21 team, which was expected to be inferior. dropped out
And just four days before that, on Wednesday, June 8, in the U-16 International Dream Cup held at Your Text Stadium in Japan, the Republic of Korea U-16 national team lost 3-0 to the Japanese U-16 national team.
At this point, the situation in which the Korean men’s soccer team suffered a devastating defeat by the Japanese national team was repeated three times in two months to the extent that the word 3-0 syndrome came out.
Of course, the situation of the national team at each level was not good, so we have to take into account the circumstances. In the case of the adult national team, Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan) and Hwang In-beom (Olympiacos), who are the core defenders and midfielders of the domestic team, suddenly fell out due to injuries and advances to Europe, causing a major disruption to their performance. Using the central defender Kwon Kyung-won (Gamba Osaka) as central midfielder was a huge loss.
The importance of the midfield fight in modern football cannot be overemphasized, but when Kwon Kyung-won, who played only as a central defender throughout his career, was hired as a midfielder, the Korean national team started the game with their hands tied. In particular, around the 19th minute of the first half, Kwon Kyung-won, who hesitated to handle the ball due to strong pressure from the opponent, lost the ball to Japan’s Yuki Soma, and the shot hit by Yuki Soma, who dribbled the ball toward the goal of Korea, hit the post. It was a scene that not only cooled the conversation, but also showed the game aspect of the day in a condensed way.
The Korean national team, which struggled with the strong pressure of the Japanese players, failed to make a threatening appearance for the entire 90 minutes and was defeated.
The biggest loss of the day lies with coach Bento who used the wrong player and didn’t correct it. In the first place, it is a subject of controversy since it ignored Lee Seung-woo (Suwon FC), who is performing amazingly in the K-League, and Yang Hyun-jun and Kim Dae-won (Gangwon FC), who showed outstanding individual skills in the All-Star game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Of course, as Bento coach, Son Jun-ho (Shandong Taishan), who was trying to test as a central midfielder, suffered an injury during a Chinese league match. However, it was a very big mistake to use defender Kwon Kyung-won as central midfielder as an alternative, and not even trying to correct it with an early substitution caused even more criticism.
If you go back in time, coach Hwang Seon-hong of the U-23 national team, who also lost 3-0 about 45 days ago, made a similar mistake. Kim Tae-hwan (Suwon), who mainly plays as a full-back in his team, was used as a flank striker, and there was a mistake in using a player, such as changing the starting goalkeeper. However, in the case of coach Hwang Seon-heung, there was an excuse that the training period was too short and that the composition of the players changed at each call, so he did not have adequate organizational skills. On the other hand, Japan’s U-21 team had been competing in international competitions since a year ago, so even considering the age difference of two years or more, the Korean U-23 team was at a disadvantage in the first place.
However, while coach Hwang Seon-hong made a sincere apology in consideration of the public sentiment sensitive to the Korea-Japan defeat, Portugal manager Paulo Bento said, “What the coaches and the Korean people need to know is that if non-regular players try to close the gap, the gap will get bigger. That would be the case.” The statement caused more controversy.
This was a remark that did not take into account the sentiment of the Korean people that even the rock-paper-scissors should win the war between Korea and Japan, and it was a remark that poured oil on the public opinion that was still incensed.
Of course, it is unlikely that Bento will be sacked four months before the World Cup due to this devastating defeat. However, in the case of Japan, when the Japanese national team lost 4-1 to the Korean national team led by coach Shin Tae-yong in the same tournament four years ago, the then national team manager Bahid Halihodzic was sacked. reached the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Bento’s remarks can be said to be a dagger in the hearts of soccer fans who wanted to accompany him even after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, so no matter what the outcome of the World Cup four months later, parting with him should be considered definitive. will be.
Leaving aside these internal issues, the focus now is on whether Korean soccer has been overtaken by Japanese soccer to the point of losing 3-0 outside of the match.
Some argue that there is a problem with the development of youth soccer, and that in a situation where the number of professional teams and registered players are significantly different, it is necessary to acknowledge the reality that Japan is now clearly behind.
Of course, as can be seen from the recent question raised by former national team player Park Ji-sung, “Should the high school soccer team take all classes?”, we have to admit that Korea’s elite sports are currently in a transition period. In the past, elite education, which only provided sports, is now changing to a holistic education that combines study and exercise for the post-player life.
But like two sides of a coin, there are good things and bad things. It is also pointed out that by having them take all the classes during the teenage years, when they need to build up their skills through long training and practical training, it adversely affects their growth.
Not only this, but if you look for the cause of the sluggishness of Korean football, you can find it countless times. And to make matters worse, the number of pods caught is innumerable. However, it is not just that Korean football has been sluggish recently.
In the AFC Champions League, which can measure the level of each country’s soccer league, Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai and Pohang Steelers advanced to the finals for two consecutive years, winning once and runner-up once again.
The players of the U-23 national team, who lost to the Japanese U-21 team this time, were called the best golden generation in history by achieving the feat of being runners-up at the 2019 U-21 Youth World Cup held in Poland. In particular, it was a team that proved its superiority by winning over Japan in the round of 16.
After that, in the U-23 Asian Cup held in 2020, the Korean national team proudly won the championship and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, while the Japanese national team suffered the embarrassment of being eliminated from the preliminary round.
Also, in the Asian Games where the U-23 team participated, South Korea won consecutive championships in 2014 and 2018. In the recent Asian Champions League qualifiers, the Korean K-League teams had 3 wins and 3 draws against the Japanese J-League teams.
Obviously, it is very regrettable and upsetting to lose to Japan 2 times in a row this time 3-0. As I said before, this is unprecedented in the history of Korean football, and if a Korean national was the national team manager, it would be a pity.
However, it is also a foolish reaction to quarrel with Japanese coach Hajime Moriyasu, some Japanese players, or Japanese media reports that Korea is no longer an opponent of Japan and that players are not afraid of Korea.
Obviously, Japan was also a national team that lacked all overseas players, but are there players in Japan who are as dazzling as Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, Hwang In-beom, Lee Jae-sung, Hwang Ui-jo, and Hwang Hee-chan on the European stage? I want to ask if I can call and if the Japanese players have no fear when facing the national team they play for.
Of course, coach Bento’s clumsy mercenary skills shown in this tournament, the difficulties in the administration of the Korea Football Association, and the easy attitude of some players deserve sufficient criticism and should be prevented from happening again. The Korean Football Association and the Korean media should reflect on this, find out what needs to be corrected, and use it as an opportunity for future growth.
But I want to say that times have changed a lot.
In the past, Korea had nothing that could beat Japan other than sports. It was a fact from the Japanese colonial period until not too long ago. Therefore, it is true that he fought against Korea and Japan with a determination to say, “If I lose, I will drown in the Sea of Gentiles”, and so I won many matches. But now, the status of Korea and Japan has been reversed to such an extent that it has overtaken Japan in per capita income and is recognized worldwide for being far more advanced than Japan in each field such as defense industry, shipbuilding, home appliances, and popular culture.
Winning against Japan is important, but more important is playing competitive football on the world stage. To be honest, the country that knows best how to beat Japan in a soccer match is South Korea. This is because Korea is the country that has beaten Japan more in soccer matches than any other country in the world.
If the manager of this match was not from Bento but from South Korea, he would have come up with a way to win and at least it wouldn’t have been this miserable.
The person I want to summon here is Mr. Jo Gwang-rae, who is currently the CEO of Daegu FC.
The soccer that he pursued as the national team manager during the Sapporo disaster in 2011, when Korea and Japan faced each other with all their full power, was devastated 3-0. was eventually sacked.
In comparison, the ‘build-up football’ that coach Paulo Bento pursues is a football that the defenders gradually unravel with a pathwork, but I don’t know how different it is from ‘cartoon football’ in fact. Since this kind of soccer is the kind of soccer that Japan has been pursuing since the 1990s, it is also a soccer that shows certain strengths than Korea. As a result, both coaches suffered a devastating 3-0 defeat to Japan.
Here, I suddenly remember the fierce competition between Korea and Japan during the 1998 World Cup in France. At that time, after Korea and Japan decided to jointly host the 2002 World Cup, they were in a group in the final qualifying round of the World Cup and fought a fierce battle.
In the meantime, there was the thrill of the Great Battle of Tokyo in 1997, and Cha Bum-geun, who was then the head coach of the Korean adult men’s national team, became a national hero enough to be called the soccer president. However, after losing to Japan at the home match held at Jamsil Olympic Stadium, and losing again in the Dynasty Cup match held in Japan on the 3.1th of the following year, coach Cha Bum-geun received national condemnation. Although a month later, on April 1st, in the friendly match between Korea and Japan, Hwang Seon-hong scored the winning goal to win 2-1, but it was an honor with only scars.
Thinking about it now, it’s ridiculous that we were doing our best to win the match against Japan, which was just around the corner, at a time when we had to play an evaluation match against the Netherlands, Mexico and Belgium, our opponents in the World Cup finals in France, and we had to train tactics. It was only to be defeated by the Dutch.
Of course, there was also the bad news of Hwang Seon-hong’s injury, which was half of the national team’s strength ahead of the World Cup finals at the time.
In addition, there were a lot of factors to consider in the 1998 World Cup in France, such as Ha Seok-joo, who scored the first goal in the finals, joining the Garinsha club (resigned after scoring a goal in the World Cup).
This was also the case in Japan.
In the World Cup where Japan played for the first time, they should have recruited teams that responded to the powerful Argentina, Croatia, and Jamaica and played an evaluation match. , in the end, had to accept the disastrous report card of losing all three of the finals. It was the same report card South Korea accepted when it first played in the Swiss World Cup in 1954.
The two countries learned how to prepare for the World Cup finals after paying such an expensive tuition. This is still valid. In that sense, Bento’s experiment shown in this tournament is not something that cannot be understood in the head.
However, everyone reading this article, including myself, is a Korean citizen, and I do not want to lose even rock, paper, scissors to Japan. . My heart aches and I can’t help but feel angry.
However, the game is already over, and the game cannot be played again.
However, there is absolutely no reason to do something stupid by inviting all foreign players to a friendly match with Japan before the World Cup in order to restore their ruined pride.
Of course, Japan did that ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. So Park Ji-sung went for a walk in Saitama.
I don’t know if he’ll even propose to beat the Korean national team, played by Son Heung-min again.
Please, I hope there is no such unfortunate incident… .
In any case, I hope Korea will unconditionally outperform Japan in this World Cup in Qatar. If possible, we would like to achieve a score of at least the round of 16 and Japan would be eliminated in the preliminary round with 3 losses.
That would be real revenge. Now it is time to answer the question posed by the title of this article.
Has Korean football really been overtaken by Japanese football?
In terms of the ‘soccer’ industry itself, it was already overtaken in 1992 when the J-League was launched, and it is true that it has endured over 30 years with just the performance alone.
Above all, if you compare the broadcast rights and prize money of the J-League, which is the backbone of the soccer industry, with the K-League, they are comparable to large supermarkets and hole-in-the-wall stores, and the number of teams cannot be compared. However, players like Seong-woong Yi Sun-sin continued to appear in the Korean football world, killing the Japanese people.
Broadly speaking, we can mention Cha Bum-geun, Park Ji-sung, and Son Heung-min as representative players, but in the meantime, many players have left a better performance than Japanese players on the European stage. If I had to mention the names, there are Lee Young-pyo, Seol Ki-hyun, Ahn Jung-hwan, Lee Cheong-yong, Ki Seong-yong, Ji Dong-won, Kim Jin-su, Kim Bo-kyung, Lee Seung-woo, etc. Everyone took on a great challenge, and although various circumstances did not allow for the best performance, they made a mark. In particular, Ahn Jung-hwan, Lee Cheong-yong, and Ki Seong-yong are just players born in the wrong era.
Now that the story of Admiral Yi Sun-sin came out, let’s go back to the 16th century, a long time ago. To be honest, at the time of the Imjin War, Joseon’s national power was far short of that of Japan.
Japan’s military power, which was simply trained through numerous battles during the Warring States period, and Joseon’s military power, which had only been in local warfare for 300 years, could not be compared.
Nevertheless, there are various factors that led Joseon to finally win the Imjin War, but it can be said that the most decisive factor was Admiral Yi Sun-sin, a genius who transcends time.
If there had been no Admiral Yi Sun-sin in Joseon at that time, would the war have ended with Japan’s defeat?
If Admiral Yi Sun-sin had not defeated the Japanese navy by blocking the supply of Japanese troops by sea as in the movie ‘Hansan’, then Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s delusion of conquering the Ming dynasty might have become a reality, not a delusion.
For this reason, Admiral Yi Sun-sin is Seong-woong, and he is a great commander who cannot be compared to the history of naval warfare around the world. The same applies to Korean football. Without Cha Bum-Geun, without Park Ji-Sung, without Son Heung-Min… . You could say Japan is better.
But is that Korean football?
That is why I assert that Japanese football has not yet overtaken Korean football. No, rather, it is argued that this is the highest point of Japanese football, and that there is only one thing left to do is fall in Japanese football.
This is because Japanese football is enjoying the effect of a huge investment during the bubble economy since the 1990s, and it is expected that soccer will also crash along with the already falling Japanese economy.
Like China, football cannot be successful just by pouring money into it, but conversely, football is difficult to succeed without money.
Japanese football, like Abenomics, which has completely collapsed, has drawn and used future resources in advance, and it is expected that the resources will soon be exhausted and the league will not be able to operate properly. Of course, these are all my unfounded (?) prophecies, and I hope you don’t believe it too much. it may not happen
In any case, it is humiliating and upsetting to lose 3-0 in a row in the soccer match between Korea and Japan. However, the author argues that there is no need to be too angry at this situation as it is the result of a number of factors overlapping.
Anyway, football will continue, and the real evaluation of Korea-Japan football will be divided between this year’s Qatar World Cup and next year’s Asian Cup.
Until then, I ask the readers of this article to put off the evaluation of whether Korean soccer is better or Japanese soccer better.
No matter what happens, the World Cup is over, let’s conclude. Even if the Korea Football Association and coach Paulo Bento are dissatisfied, let’s wait a little longer. Anyway, after 4 months, it’s fine. Whether you like it or not, your superiority will be covered.
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