Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Cha is the Best!!!! Can anyone confirm that Choi Soon Ho (current Pohang Coach) received offer from Juventus? If that's true, he could have made another story for Korea Football History.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread That's news to me. I always heard Choi was wanted by German clubs since those clubs were looking for next Cha Boom. I do know that Choi was a victim of greedy K League owners who weren't willing to let their star move to a broader pasture.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread I don't see why people are complaining that this thread is sticky .. there are only a few stickies and this is a valuable tribute to a legend. For myself I had no idea how good Cha was, all I knew was that he was a NT player and that he played in germany. Unfortunately I assumed that he was just a bit-part player and not much more. When I learned that he scored in the UEFA cup final for Leverkusen I thought it was a fluke .. Thanks to this thread I know that he was a player of world class, unfortunately it all happened before football was really big on TV, otherwise the rest of the world would also acknowledge his greatness. Well, I'm certainly attoning for that ignorance by finding out all I can about him .. the lack of resources available is very distressing imho. All who've contributed to articles to this thread have done a sterling job and deserve a congratulations .. Off the cuff idea: I'll make a tribute site to Cha .. do people mind if I take material from here?
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Yes he was once offered by Juventus. But it was Pohang(his club) that stopped it I believe.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Imagine what he might have been if he was allowed to go to europe to play professionally in his early 20's or even late teen's. It is widely believed that he was well over 30 when he went to germany. Archaic korean sports machine-> age cheating. I had been in persianfootball.com earlier today. People there are incredibly chauvinistic and annoying to tell you the truth. They challenged me with every minute details to show off the superiority of iranian football. Like the little factoids such as iranians are the only asians to have scored in championship league final rounds etc etc. uhhhhh.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Eh, you know Cha played in Germany for like 6-7 years. Are you saying Cha was nearly 40 when he won the UEFA in 1988? (89?). You know, that'd make him around 60 by now. I don't think he's that old, by the looks of him ^^ Haha, those Iranians They may have the players, but they don't have a team
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread -->There is a big reason why some of Korean soccer players cheat their age. From late 50s, only top 4 high schools'(Any major tournament) soccer players achieved special admissions and accepted to universities. If your team can not reach the final 4 of any major tournament, you are not eligible for special admission-or you have to get same college entering exam. scores as the others do. Once your team failed to enter the final 4, you probably have to wait another year til you are eligible for special admission. And sometimes, if you are not lucky, you have to wait 2-3 yrs more(after 19 or 20, you are not eligible for special admission). This was pretty common thing but not more than 2-3 yrs they lie. However, about Cha, since I know him too much, he is not the case. When he was 11th grade, his team(kyung Shin High school) already won the high school championship and was selected to the Korean national team when he was 17. So this age lie stuff don't apply to Cha. However, Cha played in Germany from 1979 and came back to Korea 1989 that I remember. He was playing in Germany for approximately 10-11 yrs. Won 2 UEFA Cups with different teams and a MVP(1987-88) for German soccer league. I don't see any other asian player that I can give credit as much as I give it to Cha. And why people love him? is because, he is a truly humble, and nice guy. Cha went to Germany-if I am correct, when he was 26 or 27.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread hi i'm indonesian but living in new zealand.And i love asian football.i just wanna ask you guys...anyone in here have the video of Cha bum keun when he was playing for any of those 2 bundesliga teams?if yes i really need it.And yeah i'm agree i think he is the best asian player in History of Asian football.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread found some vids of cha's goals during the 1988 Uefa cup sites in german but should be easy to navigate http://www.bayer04fans.com/downloads/download.php?id=53 http://www.bayer04fans.com/downloads/download.php?id=42 Also found a pic of cha on front of a eintracht magazine http://www.eintracht.de/archiv/eintracht-archiv/vereinsmagazine/1982-02eintrachtmagazin.jpg
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Did anyone notice on the second clip of that screamer of a shot by Cha, the goalkeeper's waterbottle flipped over from the booming wind off the ball. The ball didnt even touch it. The shot was so powerful, the gust of wind knocked the bottle over. Awesome ********.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread duz any one know about his accomplishments 4 his national team? like how many goals he scored, asian cup, etc...
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread He is an excellent player but let's not forget about Ali Daei. In his prime he was one of the most feared players in the world. He also played for Byern Munich and other good clubs. This guy broke the Hungarian's record for most international goald ever. He is currently at 97 but will retire soon. Hopefully he will break 100 goals. Another great player currently are Mehdi Madavakia, and Vaheed Hashemian and Ali Karimi. The first two are currently in the Bundesliga doing well and Karimi after his magical work in AFC is also going to play in a good club. There was also an excellent guy from Saudi Arabia, that played for 20 years and retired after WC94. He is not as known because not too many Saudi players can play outside of SA because of their government. Anyway I could add a bunch of more names, but i think this is enough for now. By the way the Korean that scored against Italy is also fantastic. Stupid Perugia owner for kicking the guy out because he knocked off Italy.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread I believe he was the highest goalscorer for korea at 56 goals. He played in the 1986 world cup but he didn't score a single goal and korea didn't get past the group stage. They were lumped with Italy (beat Korea 3-2), Diego Maradona's Argentina (beat korea 3-1) and Bulgaria (tied 1-1). I'm not sure if his presence in the Korean NT was a significant factor in them qualifying for the World Cup after 32 years of absence.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread only if He was living during this era, he could have definitley help the korean nt and for upcoming 06 WC. We won't ever find the next Cha Boom, will we?
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread By this time, Cha was in decline and was not a dominant player in NT. He made some good passes in 3 games but wasn't a major factor. On an unrelated note, I saw him play in San Jose/CA in a tune up match for 86' cup against a Mexican pro team. I was amazed at his chisel'd lower body compare to other Korean players. And he was one of the oldest player at the time.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Cha probably got the nod for Asian player of the century because he did so well in Bundesliga when it was considered the best league in the world.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Oh cool! That's a story you can tell your kids. You actually got to see Cha in action.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread lol, u guys should make this. Korea PLayer of the Century Thread
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread This is great! I'm very happy that this guy's from Asia. Players alike Cha, give us hope..that Football will one day be competitive all around the world. Is there any video of this guy btw.. If so , please post some.. Thank you. ------------------------- Be a fountain, Not a drain.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread in my opining ASIAN PLAYERS OF CENTURY: Ali Daie AND Cha Bum Kun
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Cha is by far the best player that Asia has produced. Ali Daie probably is in league with other Asian players who were very good (like Kim Ju Sung, Karimi) but not in the same class as Cha. Cha, when Bundesliga was the best league in the world, dominated that league. Sorry, SS2006