Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Cha Bum Keun took part in 121 international matches for South Korea.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread And Imagine, in that 7-8 year span, he would've more international caps, aye? Meaning more goals. Not only that, the talent gap between S.K and the other Asian NTs in the 70s weren't as big as, let's say Iran and other weak Asian NTs. I'm sorry, but the talent gap between Iran and the likes of Laos and Maldives are enormous. We all know Iran had good players around Daei, but S.K in the 70s weren't that good. And Still, Cha was able to score a lot of goals.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Cha Bum Keun was indeed the the greatest Asian player of the past century. No one is disputing that. All I was saying was that you can't fairly compre Cha to other Asian stars today whose careers was not limited to the past century...
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread yeah, it's unfair to compare Cha with other current Asian stars, as their careers are still ongoing. The judgment will have to be shelved till those players retire and their achievements are totalled - still, I don't think any of them have done enough to match Cha's legacy yet, though time will tell. And of course it's still rather early to determine who's the 21st century's best player, of course
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread and 1999 is not the 21st century. He'll have to wait 94 years to get testified. Being the first in CL wouldn't really have that much voice in being the "Player of the Century." Back in Cha's days, the UEFA Cup had as much prestige as the CL anyways. The only notable event would be his international goals, but then again career as a club player wasn't so fancy. Cha played the most minutes in Bundesliga as a foreign player. Daei was mostly a bench player in Bayern Munich and that could be critical. If Daei creates a goal-scoring record in Bundesliga and scores over 100 goals, he'll have such chance as Cha did by creating a record in his time. I think the AFC really didn't want to fancy this award since it was way past the dawn of the 21st century and that's why they made it quiet. But then again, Cha won the bigger award from a stronger source: IFFHS.
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread which by the way reminds me that the first Asian player to ever play was Okudera of Japan. The first ever Asian to ever score in the CL is also Okudera. That was in 1979. 651. 11-04-79 Nottingham Forest-FC Koln 3-3 EC1 sf 6.Van Gool,0-1 20.D.M?ler,0-2 28.Birtles,1-2 53.Bowyer,2-2 63.Robertson,3-2 85.Okudera,3-3 http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/duit-ec.html
Re: Official Asian Player of the Century thread Park Ji Sung became the first Asian player to score in the UEFA Champions League semi-final after 1999.
The Original: Cha Boom! Where are they now? Feature: FIFA World Cup - Germany 2006 Where are they now? Cha Bum-kun 13 May 2005 by FIFAworldcup.com It is said that a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a true soldier after all. It should follow then that a successful footballer will set himself the highest targets when he becomes a coach. When South Korean footballing legend Cha Bum-kun returned to the K-League after a ten-year gap to take charge at Suwon Bluewings at the start of the 2004 season, his ambitions were suitably lofty. "I will try to make Bluewings one of the greatest clubs in the world," he said. And the 52-year-old, whose last club role in his home country had been a three-year spell coaching Ulsan Tigers from 1991-94, enjoyed immediate success, guiding Bluewings to the title after a nerve-jangling penalty shootout victory over Pohang Steelers in the K-League championship final. For Cha, who has represented his country as a player and coach at past FIFA World Cups, that domestic success spawned another ambition: to win the 2005 AFC Champions League with Bluewings and thus qualify for the FIFA Club World Championship in Japan in December. "I believe our team are capable of achieving this as long as we work hard and play well," he told FIFAworldcup.com. The path to continental glory Bluewings underlined their improvement under Cha when they beat Barcelona 1-0 in a friendly in Seoul last July. After soaking up Barcelona's Ronaldinho-inspired attacks, a 78th-minute free-kick from Serbo-Montenegrin import Zoran Urumov sank the visiting Spaniards. "The result is not everything but it did boost the team's confidence." Cha said. Cha's Bluewings are currently well on track in their Champions League campaign, sharing the leadership of Group E with Chinese champions Shenzhen Jianlibao. They hit the ground running with a 5-0 thrashing of Vietnam's Hoang Anh GL, and then, after a goalless draw with Shenzhen, won back-to-back duels with Japan's Jubilo Iwata. "The most recent 2-1 victory over Jubilo Iwata was the hardest of the tournament so far, as we were behind after only four minutes," Cha said. "The return match with Shenzhen (in China) on May 25 will probably decide who advances to the last eight." Passing on his experiences Regarded as the best footballer the Korea Republic has ever produced, Cha remains an idol to young players in the country, having collected 127 international caps and scored 55 goals, in addition to an impressive record of 98 goals in 308 Bundesliga appearances. For all his achievements in Germany – and he lifted the UEFA Cup with Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer 04 Leverkusen - the high point of Cha's playing career was being part of the first Korea Republic team to appear at a FIFA World Cup finals, in Mexico in 1986, where they lost to Argentina and Italy but earned a draw against Bulgaria. Looking back, he recalled: "We didn't achieve our first win but the campaign was not disappointing as we played hard and well against the best teams in the world - the eventual champions Argentina, Italy and Bulgaria. "The match against Italy was a thriller. Despite the difference in quality, we showed how we'd improved and scored three goals in this close 3-2 contest – one of them an own goal, unfortunately. We lost the match but not by the big margin that was expected. And although we didn't go beyond the group stage, I think the lessons we learned and experiences we gained there partly helped lay the foundations that eventually produced the tremendous success at the 2002 finals." Cha spares no time and effort passing on the knowledge he gleaned to the next generation, and one notable beneficiary is his elder son, Cha Du-ri, who has followed in his father's footsteps by playing in Germany for Eintracht Frankfurt. "I told both my son and our other European-based players more than once that wherever you play with a foreign club, the most important thing is to bridge the cultural gap between Asia and Europe," he said. "To cope with this you will have to learn a new language and culture, and make new friends until you become one of them. I had a lot of German friends when I was there two decades ago and without their help, I couldn't have succeeded." Family, religion, football Despite his magnificent achievements as a player, his subsequent coaching experiences have provided mixed memories, with the 5-0 defeat by the Netherlands in the first round at France 98 a bitter one. He was sacked as national coach after that match, the South Koreans' second in the finals, and seven years on admitted: "The defeat by the Dutch is hard for me even today. We should have played better but it was impossible in such an atmosphere - you must remember how our team were supported by the Red Devils in 2002, well, the Dutch players had the same with the whole stadium a sea of orange." It was not easy taking another coaching position in the Korea Republic, although the support of his family undoubtedly helped. "Three things are most important in my life - family, religion and football," said Cha. "Football is my life's work but when I've suffered setbacks in my career, my family and religion have always helped me recover." Not surprisingly, Cha has passed on a love of football to his family. At the FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, four family members were involved in the tournament, one way or another: he was working as a commentator; his daughter as a volunteer interpreter; his younger son as a ballboy; and his elder son, of course, as a key member of Guus Hiddink's South Korean team. That man Hiddink will be back in Seoul in July for a friendly match between his PSV Eindhoven side and a Korea University XI that Cha has been invited to coach. Old boys Lee Chun-soo (Ulsan), Choi Sung-yong (Suwon) and Park Chu-young (Seoul) will feature in the alumni team as well as former national captain Hong Myung-bo. It is Hiddink versus Cha – a repeat of France 98, albeit in more relaxed circumstances. And if he loses again? The answer was to be expected: "A professional football man will never quit the game." Surname: Cha First name: Bum-kun Date of birth: May 2, 1953 Place of birth: Hwaseong, Korea Republic Playing career: Air Force (Korea Republic), SV Darmstadt 98, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern 04 Leverkusen (all Germany) Coaching career: Ulsan Hyundai (Korea Republic), South Korean national team, Shenzhen Pingan (China), Suwon Bluewings (Korea Republic) Bundesliga appearances: 308 Bundesliga goals: 98 International caps: 127 International goals: 55 Honours: FIFA World Cup - Three appearances as a player in 1986 - Two matches as a coach in 1998 UEFA Cup - Winner with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1980 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1988 K-League - Champion with Suwon Bluewings in 2004
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! I remember the 5-0 thrashing handed to us. Man was i dissapointed, i couldn't watch another game wondering why korea was so terrible but all that changed in 2002 . I hope Suwon will win their division and the AFC league so they can show the world, k-league's talent.
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! "the high point of Cha's playing career was being part of the first Korea Republic team to appear at a FIFA World Cup finals, in Mexico in 1986" Great how FIFA seemed to forget Korea's World Cup run in 1954 -_-;;
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! good point! - World Cup 1954 - RESULTS - GROUP A Yugoslavia - France 1:0 (1:0) Brasil - Mexico 5:0 (4:0) Brasil - Yugoslavia 1:1 (1:1, 0:0) France - Mexico 3:2 (1:0) GROUP B Hungary - South Korea 9:0 (4:0) W. Germany - Turkey 4:1 (1:1) Hungary - W. Germany 8:3 (3:1) Turkey - South Korea 7:0 (4:0) GROUP C Austria - Scotland 1:0 (1:0) Uruguay - Czechoslovakia 2:0 (0:0) Uruguay - Scotland 7:0 (2:0) Austria - Czechoslovakia 5:0 (4:0) GROUP D Switzerland - Italy 2:1 (1:1) England - Belgium 4:4 (3:3, 2:1) Italy - Belgium 4:1 (1:0) England - Switzerland 2:0 (1:0) QUARTERFINALS Austria - Switzerland 7:5 (5:4) Uruguay - England 4:2 (2:1) Hungary - Brasil 4:2 (2:1) W. Germany - Yugoslavia 2:0 (1:0) SEMIFINALS W. Germany - Austria 6:1 (1:0) Hungary - Uruguay 4:2 (2:2, 1:0) 3. PLACE GAME Austria - Uruguay 3:1 (1:1) FINAL W. Germany - Hungary 3:2 (2:2) K_19 are there a lot of Hogtowners here? looks like i'm the only one from MTL...
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! And i would like to add, Cha didn't play on the NT for like 6-8 years when he was called up to the NT a month before the 86 WC. So really, that 127 Caps should be bigger. But unfortunely, it's not.
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! opps i accidently posted this in another forum without knowing.. my bad!!
Re: The Original: Cha Boom! yeah, nice info, but prolly better to gather all Cha-related materials in the sticky thread. This thread may eventually sink into oblivion and some ppl might miss out.
Cha Bum Keun is still a legend over here too! Even if he played here in Frankfurt before I was ever even born, I have heard a lot of him! I dont think anybody has answered that, at least i havent seen it, so now after more than 3 years... The balcony is part of the "Römer", which is the cityhall fo Frankfurt. I doubt that Hitler ever made speeches there, in fact I belive in that time the big place in front of the Römer didnt even exist yet. It only appeared after WW2, when the fully destroied inner-city was being reconstructed... It has become a famous place for "football-partys", as everytime the german team came back from a major tournament that they had won or performed well, they always landed at Frankfurt Airport and so were presented first in Frankfurt... Also the local team Eintracht Frankfurt has had some huge celebrations there. In 59 when we were german champions for the only time, more than 300k people are supposed to have been there! in 1980 Cha Bum Keun took part in one of those famous römer-celebrations... Last year Cha Du Ri also had the honor! When Eintracht got promoted back to 1st division, once again some 20-30000 where there celebrating. not quite as many as in the glory days, but still a nice party... greetz from Frankfurt! Doc Äppler Cha and Frankfurt-legend Jürgen Grabowski!
Thanks Doc for the precious pictures. I got hooked to soccer precisely because of Cha-boom during the late 70's and throughout the 80's. The '86 World Cup was such an exciting event, Korea's first appearance since 1954, and the one and the only one that Cha was able to participate. It was heart-breaking to see Cha-boom getting covered by at least two defenders from the opponents. The word was out that taking Cha-boom out of the equation was all the opposition team needed to do, and they were pretty much right. But, Korea, nonetheless got their first ever World Cup point by tying Bulgaria with Jongbu Kim's lightning quick goal following a chest trap. He was supposed to be the next Cha-boom but all hell broke loose after a double contract was confirm with two different franchises. By the way, I got to see Cha in person two years ago and man he's some charismatic dude. It's sad that he's been harassed by some of the supporters of the team he's coaching though. Undoubtedly, he was much better as a player.
You said you're German, right? Man, you happen to know more about the old school Korean football than any of us here. If I heard right, Kim Jong-bu was the biggest prospect we had in the 80s but he had problems with having multiple contracts with other teams in Korea like you mentioned and that pretty much screwed him over as he couldn't play professional football for about a year or two. So Ahn's agents screwing him over ever since his Perugia days wasn't really new in Korean football, I guess. I also heard that Kim had a lot of injury problems and that's what made him retire so early in his career when he finally got the chance to play in the K-League after all that drama. I don't really know much about him since I'm too young, but we should still respect him for what he did for us against Bulgaria and in the 1983 WYC.
well, '86 was a glittering squad as well, if not as experienced on the world stages. Not only Cha BK, but as mentioned Kim JB, Park Chang-Sun, Choi Soon-Ho, Byun Byung-Joo et c - the NT that participated in the '90 was largely a new generation, that included Hong Myung-Bo.