I was just thinking about all the recent goals he has scored for the NT. Here is a list of few of 'em: 2000 Asian Cup vs Iran: Noh Jung Yoon low cross, Lee one times it to the roof of the net (and scores the golden goal) 2000 Olympics vs Chile: loose ball off Choi Chul Woo's shot, sidefoots it in past the keeper. this year's friendly against Bahrain: volleys a loose bouncing ball past the keeper for the first goal. 2004 Asian cup vs UAE: a header. 2004 Asian cup vs Kuwait: a free kick goal, and then a one timer tap in from close range. 2004 Asian cup vs Iran: one time tap in from a low cross past Mirzapour. This year's world cup qualifying vs Vietnam: a header. and, just yesterday against Maldives: gets his foot on the ball after it deflect off Cho Jae Jin; one times it in. Notice anything yet? Yes, all of them have been either a one touch tap in/header, or off dead (or loose) balls! This really makes me think that Lee needs to work on creating his own goals. Sure, he does have a gifted one-touch play to his arsenal (and I had to give him that special stat in winning eleven ) which is a great asset for a striker, but I think just poaching in goals isn't going to be good enough in the long run. What happened to his quick, turning, cannonball shots that we saw against Netherlands in 1998 or against Japan in the u-19 asian championships? It seems like he can no longer pull those off anymore, and seem noticeably less agile compared to that time. A truely great striker will create his own goals, and this is something Lee must learn if he wants to start for Korean NT in 2006 (should we make it there). Any thoughts?
Very good points, K_19. I am not sure Lee DK can learn a new trick (creating own shots at will) at this point in his career. Perhaps, he can be paired with Choi Sung Guk who can drew defenders away from Lee. I don't think Anh and Lee formation works.
That's like hoping your apple will taste like oranges by leaving them out in the sun long enough. He's just your typical target man. He won't create anything. He'll just be there to tap in crosses, passes and loose balls. Meanwhile the rest of the team will have to cross, pass and shoot like mad.
It's just that I've seen Lee Dong Gook early in his career do so much more with the ball and create much better chances on his own. It leaves me hope that he can go back to those days, but its probably somewhat like hoping Ko Jong Su returning to his old self as well (probably unlikely). Man, those two could have been so much more...
I think Bonfrere have been too stubborn with this Ahn/Lee DG combination. Everybody figured out a while ago these two don't work well together, but he still stuck with it throughout the qualifying. But now that Ahn will be out for couple months he can probably try several new options at forward position.
I know... especially Ko Jong-su. I still remember that "Korea Cup" we had after France 98 and Ko Jong-su's performance against Belgium. That was just quality.
Ko Jong Su was something special...too bad he wasted his talent. Exactly!! i hate to say this but, Ahn Jung Hwan have always been off when he plays for Korea, He contributes nothing. He and Lee Dong Guk(Hate HIM!!! ) . I say we give Choi Sung Guk and Park Chu Young some chance.
same here. it's probably because he's to pretty to train. so after playing a half, he's damn tired. "so tired...running after ball...must sit down and look pretty." if i remember correctly, he almost didn't make the wc2002 team because he lacked conditioning. as a sub, he probably feels that he can go out and push himself harder.
Anh was a sub under Hiddink's regime. He moved up by default after departures by Hwang & Choi YS. Then, noone challenged his position. Now that he is injured, I surely hope Choi Sung Guk, Cho JJ, Park Chu YOung, and others will get their chances.
well, if you notice, that's how van nistelrooy scores 95% of his goals too, and nobody considers him to be too shabby...i guess it's all about positioning
How many strikers do you guys know of that create their own chances ? Now I was sitting here thinking that was a job assigned to the wingers and midfielders Whether some like it or not, despite some good information from K_19, Lee Dong-guk is our only option we have at the moment. Personally, I think he's a great player, a great mentality ( hopefully the army changed him a bit ), but a poor aspect to receive hatred.
Lee Dong-guk has been given an extended 2nd chance at the National Team. I don't think he'll take it for granted and hopefully he'll be the target man we desperately need.
I can't agree more. Michael Owen is a prime example of the poaching mindset. By Owen's own admission, he scores 90% of his goals by (1) hanging onto the shirt of the defenders, barely on-side, (2) waiting for a decent ball in, and (3) getting in behind the defender at the crucial moment, then banging it in. Look, I personally think the modern breed of super-forwards, Henry prime among them, have prejudiced the Owen/Alan Shearer/Gary Linneker style strikers. Henry is a one-off--the guy never goes anywhere near the 9 yd. box, hangs about just north of mid-field, then cruises in at supersonic speed and hits the ball at angles so accute, you'd need to go on the pitch with a laser-guided protractor to prove that he hasn't defied some fundamental laws of geometry, and he never heads the ball, ever. Folks, this is not normal, and in my opinion unnatural.
I agree, too...that and penalty kicks. Isn't that the majority type of strikers nowadays? I don't think it hurts to have tapin/header strikers like v Nistelrooy, owen, or viery as long as they score. Strikers like Ronaldo and Henry are rare. What we lack IMO is decent midfielders like Zizu (we wish) and Ronaldhinio (sp?) who can create assist, create goals and make long range shots.
ChaBoomer is right--I think I'd take a play-maker over a pure striker (and while we're at it, I'd like a pony too). Korea NT's decade-long reliance on the Hong/Hwang combination (i.e., long, accurate balls in space from Hong to Hwang up front, who would bulldoze it in or set up someone else) has held back the development of a whole generation of Korean attacking midfielders, the lynchpins of modern, speed-reliant football. You see a similar problem with Liverpool now that Gerrard has no Owen to long-ball to. I like what I see from JS Park and CS Lee, but my own crazy theory is that Seol could be developed into a Gerrard/Viera type of holding midfielder. Better yet, I would love to see Seol develop his strength and become a hard man in the mould of Roy Keane. Seol is strong on the ball, is good at distributing, and can slow the tempo way down and just gut-and-glory shut down the midfield. Legendary hard man Paul Ince at Wolves can teach Seol the ropes. Who needs a Zizou when you can have a hard man clamping down the middle?
The key thing for a forward is to score goals. I don't care how. It just has to end up in the back of the net.
korea has decent midfielders who can create, score, assist in choi sung kuk, kim du hyon, park ji sung, lee chun soo, lee eul yong, and even ahn jung hwan who can play attacking midfielder, choi sk can create, score, kim du hyon can shoot from long range, lee eul yong can assist, also very dangerous on free kicks, park and lee cs can create assist score also ahn they may not be as good as zizou or ronaldinho but there good enough for korea....
But he misses alot. Have you seen RVN or Owen missing that much? If I was Bonfrere i will NOT use Lee Dong Guk and try different tactic... Agree, we need finisher like Ruud van Nistelrooy who can score inside the box and rarely misses
Yeah, but we don't have Owen, RVN, or other players who can finish. The only viable alternative is to try out younger players. I will support that.