Full to the gills with striking talent, Argentina appears the clear favorite to advance out of
Group B. The second spot is up for much debate. Greek will park the bus and try to stalemate
opponents into submission but Nigeria boasts both speed and size to trouble the Greek defenses.
Our series on the US at the World Cup continues with the second part of our look at the 1998
World Cup. You can read more about US World Cup appearances in 1930 (part 1), 1930 (part
2), 1934, 1950, the 1950-1990 drought, 1990, 1994, 1998 (part 1), 1998 (part 2) and 2002
(part1).
In Korean football, you are nothing without a nickname. You don't have to be called to the national
team to get one but it helps. This season, we have seen the return to form of a number of old heads
and the appearance of some long-unused aliases headlines in the huge portals.
"The Little Emperor", "The Lion King'', "The Millenium Kid" and "The Lord of the Ring" are all
colorful movie-like monikers but they are players who are working their way back to the spotlight
and into the gaze of national team coach Huh Jung-moo.
The Korean media are getting a little blasé about it all now. News that Cho Won-hee could be
about to sign for Wigan Athletic was well-reported in Seoul but didn't provoke the kind of
excitement seen in the past.
It was expected that the defender-turned-midfielder would leave Korea over the close-season.
This is my first project for you the readers. I'm going to start it off, but this will take effort
from more than just myself. Quite simply what we have here is a quest to find those players who
will be available on Free Transfers this January. These are the guys who could be [...]
Could a decision to sign the Korean star also known as "Asia's David Beckham" be close at
hand? Could it really be made before the end of this week? Or is it all just clever posturing by
the player's agent? Time will tell but according to this Goal.com article negotiations have broken
down between the striker who has played in Italy, Japan and Korea and his Korean K-league club
Busan I' Park which is known around here as the club which swooped in on Reinaldo da Costa before
the Colorado Rapids could get him to put ink to paper.
And then there were two, but there can be only one.
Big thanks to our good friends Dynamo Planet for the following email:
Greetings. Here's some more info on the story on Ahn Jung Hwan possibly coming to MLS.
Here's our story (on DynamoPlanet) from earlier:
The important part is this from a Korean newspaper:
안 정환의 미국 진출에
정통한 한 관계자는 18일
"안정환은 미국 프로팀
대부분이 존재를 알고 있을
만큼 지명도가 높았다.
Who will win the Ahn Jung-hwan sweepstakes? That is the Question of the Day.
As time goes on, it looks more likely that "Asia's Beckham" will be "crossing
east" to MLS. He certainly has enough potential suitors.
According to this Sports Illustrated article and Goal.com the Korean attacking midfielder/striker
is wanted by the New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids, Chivas USA and Red Bull New York.
The Missouri Comets had gotten their magic number down to 1 on Friday with their win over the
Baltimore Blast. They didn't wait long to make make that magic number 0. The Comets took care of
business today in Milwaukee, defeating the Wave 17-14 to punch their ticket to the playoffs.
The Wave grabbed an early 2-0 lead on the power play less than 5 minutes into the quarter.
It's been a slow week news wise (unless you're keeping yourself busy voting to try to get me to
tryout for the Wizards), but here's a bit of a stretch of a rumor for those that want something
interesting to read about. The Asian Beckham, and Korean World Cup Star, Ahn Jung-hwan, is
interested in coming to play in MLS.
It had to happen sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before one of the 2002 World Cup
heroes took the reins of a K-League team. It is perhaps fitting that the man who scored the first
goal in South Korea's unforgettable run to the semi-finals of the world's biggest sporting event is
the first one to try his luck in the domestic league.
Ahn Jung-hwan was labelled "Asia's Beckham" after the 2002 World Cup, a handsome star who made
global headlines for dumping Italy out of the competition. Five years later, he almost became the
Asian version of one of Beckham's former Manchester United team-mates,Eric Cantona.
Cantona famously jump-kicked a fan in the chest in 1995 before raining punches on the shocked
leather-jacketed spectator.
