A Korean Player for DC

They'd also have to be cap friendly. If any move is made it will be in the offseason, probably after the New Year. (The american version, that is.)

 

I would love to see a korean come to United. I think that may happen when DC Uniteds current president fires his Marketing director. There is a reason why the dance clubs in DC will not market to the same audience as United, regardless of the mass population..... safety.

 

If we're gonna bring in an SI I don't think it should be a player that "can't quite make it" in Europe.

 

Re: Re: A Korean Player for DC

Depends on why he 'can't quite make it', Carlos Ruiz, Armado Guevera, Ryan Nelsen and Milton Reyes are examples (to name a few) of players who can't quite make it in Europe because they aren't given the chance yet to prove themselves and don't come from marquee countries like Brasil or Argentina.

 

Although, I would love to see a Korean player for DC, it's highly unlikely we'll see a top player in their prime coming here anytime soon. There are many options available for them even before they consider MLS.

First, all the top players want to move to Europe. Most of our strikers and the midfielders in the national team is playing in Europe and many will play in the Champions League.

Second, J-League offers much better salaries. Choi Yong-soo, who's not even our national team anymore makes over a million dollars a year for JEF and other Koreans in Japan makes much more than the MLS max.

Third, K-League also has better overall salary than the MLS and these guys get to play at home rather then play at a foreign country.

Unfortunately, top Korean players are looking at MLS as a league they can come and play before they retire and learn English to earn international coaching license. Unless MLS can raise it's salary level, I think we can only look forward to players who are past their prime like Hong, Matthaus or Stoitchkov.

I would love to see Yoo come and play for DC but I'm not holding my breath. Hong will probably play for one more year after this and if Yoo decides to move from J-League to MLS then I'm afraid the league will place him in LA or NY.

 

Just what DC United needs! More ethnic pandering!

Maybe DC should just try to tailor its roster to be representative of the population of the DC area?

That way, everyone has a reason to come!

 

I have no problem at all with the ethnicity of the players, as long as they're helping the club win. It was clear that there were a lot of people @ the LA match to see Cienfuegos and Hong, but would they get us points in the table? If we have good players we'll win, and that's when you see the asses in the seats.

 

Too bad. I was hoping for some more martial arts halftime shows like we saw in the LA game.

 

We didn't see that half time show. The drum circle in the concourse was awesome, baybee. You should give it a try.

GM

 

Oh great - before you know it, we'll have some smart ass lawyer playing defense.

 

I'd volunteer

 

You'd just find a way to settle before the game began or get a continuance.

 

Look, it's a agreed we shouldn't sign players unless (a) they're good enough to help the team/the league and (b) they fit into the team.

That said, here's my take on ROK players.

1. While there are some that don't fit (a) and (b) above (heck, there are plenty of American players who don't fit (a) and (b) above and some may even be on United!), there are certainly some S.Korean players who would shine in MLS and fit into the team well.

2. With hindsight, I think Hwang may have been a real missed opportunity. At the time, DCU got first cut at him (and then the rest of the league) and everyone passed. He was recovering from an injury and is aging (34 if I remember correctly) and would have been MLS max. But he would have been the tall target man and pure finisher that this side has lacked all season. But I think we (and Ray) assumed he could get a more creative player or a younger, faster, more skilled player for that slot. Instead, we acquired more A-mids and withdrawn forwards.

3. Unfortunately, b/c of Hiddink's exposure to ROK and the performance of the S.Korean team in the WC PLUS the salaries paid by the J-League, Korean talent is over-priced compared to MLS. It's like asking: given the number of Mexicans in the USA, why aren't there more Mexican players in MLS? And the answer is: that given TV revenues, Mexican teams make so much money that MLS just can't compete (unless its an aging Garcia, or someone who's fallen between the cracks like a Martin Vazquez and has dual citizenship).

4. I actually think the kind of player S.Korean football has developed would fit in well with our team (though obviously it would depend upon what individual was signed). As a rule, S.Korean soccer players: are quick, run hard and relentless and never stop working, are very team-oriented, play pressure soccer.

To get a young, talented Korean player would be a real plus, but also incredibly unlikely I'm afraid.

 

As far as the cost to the LEAGUE as a whole i think that the TV revenues, merchandising and gate reciepts would offset the costs, much like Mattheus and Hong generated more revenue for the league than their contracts cost. Not like our dealings with Mexican Nationals.

 

I agree with Joe in that I think the market value of ROK players is more than that are actually worth. I agree that a lot of it is based upon Japorea 2002 and S. Korea's preformance. I don't think they are so over priced that they are bad buys for European teams but based upon MLS's salary structure they are over priced. It is not a condemnation of their talent level, which is very good by the way, but that demand is too high in order for MLS to get adequate band for it's buck.

 

I agree with the overpricing of their "Named" stars, maybe we should recruit some of their U-23 & U17 players, they seemed to compete well with our US players and could maybe be brought on the cheap.

 

they're getting snapped up by European and Japanese clubs. the only thing we would get is somebody who couldn't contribute immediately.

 

Bingo. Many of our U17s and U23 players have already signed with European or Japanese clubs and many more are negotiating or being targeted at this moment.

As I stated earlier many of these young national team players are not even thinking about the MLS. Even if they don't get taken by either European or Japanese clubs, they would rather go to a K-League team then a MLS club. Why would they leave their home and go to MLS to make less money?

It's unfortunate but the only Korean players we'll see in MLS will be ones like Hong, and possibly Yoo in the future who already passed their prime and is looking forward to make more money elsewhere (like the Europeans). Although we won't see them at their best this still might not be a bad move for the league in terms of gate revenue. It was ironic to see that it was DC United (I'm sure it was MLS using DC's name) who put ads in Korean papers to get us to come out to cheer for Hong. Even after 8 years of existence, this league's goal is to survive and somehow make profits in the future. You can't really blame the league if it looks like it's ethnic pandering.

I would love to see DC pursue Yoo hard (and SOON). He's a hard-nosed and tenacious player whom Edgar Davids stated that Yoo was the toughest player he went up against. Yoo might not have the talent that had the scouts of FC Barcelona and other European clubs drooling anymore but I still think he can show some toughness and heart sometimes I think our boys lack. Yoo broke his nose in a game against Mexico at the Confederations Cup and against the doctor's wishes, he continued playing. He ended up scoring the winning goal in the end.

 

LA has spent the entire year figuring out how to compensate for Hong's presence on the field. I am sure that bringing a lesser Korean geezer will do wonders for performance on the field.

Please pass on this idea. Or at least wait a bit until this Korean fad passes in Europe -- which is surely will by the time of the Korean's early exit in the next World Cup.