Korea Move On (Despite Their Best Efforts)

Certain countries are known for a certain way of playing the Beautiful Game. Brazilian "Samba Soccer." Italian "Catenaccio." English "Kick and Rush." Dutch "Total Football."

To these, I suggest adding a new national style: Korean "Dicking Around."

This was a phenomenon I first noticed in Seattle when Good People played games against a largely Asian team. The two Korean forwards seemed talented at first, but many time they went for tricks and flicks when a simple pass or clearance would have done. This idea was confirmed in the six-a-side games we played against a Korean team in Daejeon. Rather than taking a first-time shot, they would often pass between each other three or four times in the box, allowing someone to block the shot. Sometimes it resulted in a goal, but usually in those situations a first-time shot would have worked too.

The phenomenon also reared its head in the game between Korea and Nigeria. Korea realistically only needed a draw to advance, since Greece were likely to lose to the mighty Argentina. The ROK didn't make it easy on themselves. Nigeria went ahead due to some terrible marking from the right back. Korea managed to take the lead thanks to a header from Lee Jung-soo and a great free-kick from Monaco forward Park Chu-yong (video of the free kick coming at some point in the future).

Still, there seemed to be an epidemic of "dicking around." Players wanted too many touches before shooting, and ended up losing the ball. Yakubu's inexplicable miss didn't seem to offer ample warning. Instead of just kicking the ball into row Z, Kim Nam-il decided to try to play it out of his own box. He then lost the ball and gave away a penalty trying to recover. Yakubu scored and it was time to worry. A win for Nigeria probably would have sent them through due to Korea's poor goal difference from the 4-1 defeat by Argentina.

In the end though, the win was fairly comfortable despite a couple of long range shots. Korea are through, and may meet the United States in the quarters if they can get past Uruguay. Let's hope they don't dick around in front of Diego Forlan.