2010 World Cup Qualifying

[BeTheReds]

Asia's got 4.5 teams in the world cup this year and qualifying for those places is almost complete.

The 4 places that get an automatic berth in the WC are South Korea, Japan, Australia, and North Korea. The .5 spot will go to either Saudi Arabia or Bahrain in a playoff. The winner of that playoff must face the winner of Oceania, New Zeland.

Outside of Asia,
Other than the Netherlands, and South Africa (the hosts) no other team has yet qualified, because the qualification process is much longer.

It's pretty amazing that North Korea qualified! They haven't been to the World Cup since 1966. One thing to note is that many of their players are in fact ethnic Koreans who live in or were raised in Japan. On North Korean player, Ahn Young Hak, plays in the South Korean K-League!

[Chooky]

That 1966 N.Korean team became one of the most popular teams of that tournament. They reached the quarter finals and lost to Portugul 5-3 after taking a 3-0 lead!

In the North Korea-Saudi game last week, the Koreans (occasionally) played some really attractive football, and put together some nice moves. Of course, they were playing for a draw, but they showed that they might provide a few upsets next year.

[proazn]

If North Korea and South Korea combined to form one team, they would be a much stronger team. But those hot-tempered koreans just can't get along. Where is China? or India? haven't seen them in the World Cup tournament in my entire life. With billions of people, you think one or two of them would be good footballers to lead their countries.

[BeTheReds]

Originally Posted by proazn

If North Korea and South Korea combined to form one team, they would be a much stronger team.

Stronger, but not by much. It would mean having 10 South Koreans and 1 North Korean on the team... at least for a while.

But those hot-tempered koreans just can't get along. Where is China? or India? haven't seen them in the World Cup tournament in my entire life. With billions of people, you think one or two of them would be good footballers to lead their countries.

China got there in 2002. (Korea and Japan both were hosts, so they did not compete in the qualifying tournament, meaning China only really had to worry about Iran and Saudi Arabia that year.)

India's sport is cricket, and football hasn't really picked up so much there for some reason.

[Flow to Live]

The next world cup is definitely going to be an interesting one since teams all over the globe as gotten stronger, but I still feel Europe and South America are still have a stronghold in the competition. Of course, I want the underdogs of Asia, Africa and North America to pull a couple of upsets, but the quality there is nothing compare to the EU & Brazil/Argentina.

I would like to see China to go through, but realistically, they are a horrible team. I was watching the USA vs. China two years ago and they were bad. They couldn't hold possession of the ball, had no passing game, didn't have good football IQ , and to make matters worst they seem lightweight in size. They have some speed, but thats about it.

[Secret AsianMan]

North Korea making it in was definitely a surprise. Advancing from a group that included traditional Asian powers Iran and Saudi Arabia was impressive.

[Chooky]

Originally Posted by proazn

If North Korea and South Korea combined to form one team, they would be a much stronger team. But those hot-tempered koreans just can't get along. Where is China? or India? haven't seen them in the World Cup tournament in my entire life. With billions of people, you think one or two of them would be good footballers to lead their countries.

China and India probably haven't yet develped a grass roots football culture, by which I mean a culture where kids start playing the game really young and learn how to be comfortable on the ball from an early age. In the UK, Europe and Latin America kids can be found kicking a ball around on the streets, in parks, in their back yard, on the beach, even in their home. I think that the U.S has the same problem.

Sure you can find an 11 year-old with potential and put them through some kind of football academy and teach them a few things, but it really does make a huge difference if kids learn ball skills through play from a very young age.

[Flow to Live]

China has potential to grow into one of the best in the world since they do have the largest population which means they have a large pool of talent to pull from.

The beauty about football is each country has different style that reflects their culture. For example, Brazilians are known for their "Samba" style of football(although most of them are losing it since most of Brazilians play aboard in Europe now) and Germans are known for being very strict etc. . Unfortunately, the Asian culture does not help East Asian countries in football.

You know how Western are more a individualistic society while Asian culture are more collective. There are few Asian players who are willing to be selfish and take risk. Yao Ming had some trouble adapting to the NBA because of the different approach of thinking to basketball.

[Chooky]

Originally Posted by Flow to Live

The beauty about football is each country has different style that reflects their culture. For example, Brazilians are known for their "Samba" style of football(although most of them are losing it since most of Brazilians play aboard in Europe now) and Germans are known for being very strict etc. . Unfortunately, the Asian culture does not help East Asian countries in football.

You know how Western are more a individualistic society while Asian culture are more collective. There are few Asian players who are willing to be selfish and take risk. Yao Ming had some trouble adapting to the NBA because of the different approach of thinking to basketball.

I'm not so sure about that. Compared to basketball, football is more about winning and keeping possesion of the ball and it takes a team to do that. Very, very, few players are capable of creating goals out of nothing without the help of the team.

I have noticed though that East Asian teams are somewhat more "honourable" than non-Asian teams. By which I mean that a European or Latin American player will take almost every opportunity to dive or overly exagerrate a strong challenge from an opponent to win a free-kick. The Asian players don't seem to do that as much. There's almost a naive quality in the way they play.

[Flow to Live]

Football consist of both individual and team effort to win. Look at Maradona,he literally carried the hold Argentina team to become World Cup champs, and he is consider one of the best players of all time. Hell, he scored one of the best goals of all time by dribbling the ball pass multiple "World Class" English defenders. Also, Real Madrid just bought Kaka for 60 milllion euros and Cristiano Ronaldo for 80 million euros....why?.... because these players are make difference on the pitch. All i'm saying is some of these players from Asia gotta be more confidence in their own ability and take risk.

I watched Ji Sung Park a couple of times. He is a quality player for manure, but he is no world beater. He's a great squad player and that's it. He passes the ball way to often when should he take the opportunity when given to him. I'm surprised he scored aganist us in the CL last season because he doesn't often take good opportunities when he gets them.

Basketball & Football are very similar, since I play both I can comment. You have to keep possession in both sport. The main objective is to score goals/points. Yeah, basketball differs in that you only got 24 seconds to make a play happen, but within that time, you've gotta keep possession and try to capitalize on your chance. This requires both individual and team effort. In Football, each team have 45 minutes plus stoppage time in each half to make something happen. Awareness, movement on/off the ball, possession, reading plays, keeping in position and objective is the same for both sports. You can take Phil Jackson's triangle formation and implement it in Football.