1. Cha Bum Kun far below Cha ... 2. Kim Ju Sung 3. Hong Myung Bo (pretty close with Kim but I will always go with forward)
I don't know why I remember them but... 1. Ha Suk Joo 2. Ko Jong Soo-He would've been great but too bad he wasted his talent 3. Hong Myung Bo-Great captain and Charismatic
The first Korean player I ever became aware of was (surprise surprise) Cha Bum-keun... I read his name in an Aberdeen FC history book as he scored against the Dons in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup when Eintracht Frankfurt went on to win the trophy. The first time I remember being fully aware of the South Korean national side... I don't have any recollection of their 1986 WC games, but I do remember that in 1990 they cost Scotland qualification to the 2nd round! If Korea had drawn with Uruguay then (I believe) Scotland would have gone through as one of the best 3rd place teams... but Daniel Fonseca scored in the 2nd minute of injury time and Scotland went out For some reason I remembered Seo Jung-won from the 1998 World Cup, and when I came to Korea and went along to watch Suwon for the first time I recognised his name.
I remember Cha because he was the first soccer superstar I grew up with. I remember Kim making speedy run up and down the side line. I remember Hong's smile after making the final PK which put Korean in the WC02 semi final. I will never forget that smile
-Cha Bum Keun, of course. -Cho Gwang Rae (from my home town) -Choi Soon Ho, I remember him back from the time he first gained prominence playing for his highschool in national tournaments.
Cha "Boom" was da ********... Hwang Sun Hong, probabaly most skilled player Korea has ever had Hong myung bo, one of the best defender ever in world soccer i dont know if you guys remmeber this guy but Ko Jung Woon, old timer, powerful player i just liked his playing style
I remember Ko Jung Woon. He was pretty complete player: technique, power, physical strength, ..., and he had class (which the current players are missing).
Hong was good. In their generation (and yours , Seo Jung-wong and Ha seok-ju were pretty good also. I like Seo better - who can forget his tying goal against Spain?
I still remember that goal. Man what a goal... and what a time to grab it. I really liked Seo Jung-won and I still do. When I go back to Korea I hope to get to a few Suwon matches as Seo Jung-won plays there along with Choi Sung-yong.
Seo is probably on his last legs, no? Speedy small to medium size strikers don't have long careers but Seo seems to break that rule.
The shame is I felt the previous generation had style and class, something our generation right now lacks. But what we lacked then was a good manager to teach these players how to play true international football.
I watched 1986 WC but I was too young to appreciate Cha's acheivements - he was 10 years before my time 3 best I remember are: 1. Kim Joo-Sung 2. Hwang Sun-Hong 3. Hong Myung-Bo
By that time, Cha was way past his prime and was not the impact player he used to be in Korea NT. It was his first and only WC participation.
Seo's retiring from K-League football at the end of this season. He said that he'd like to go to a small European or American club for a season so that he can study a language with a view to picking up a full-time coaching spot somewhere (he was player/coach with Suwon this year).
anybody have much info about heo jeong mu? he's considered one of the greatest, but i no neraly zilch about him. and i like players like No Jeong-Hyeon or Ko.. what's his name.. the guy who played in 94 World Cup who virtually bulldozed over other players.
Hu Jung Moo was a great all around mid-fielder and a leader. In one of WC, he was supposed to hold down Maradona (an impossible task when Maradona was at its best). Hu ended up fouling him - looks more like intentional Tak Kwon Do kick - very bad. After that, Korea got the bad rep as a dirty team in some circles. Anyway, that incident aside, he was mainstay of Korean NT mid-field for a long time - sort of like Yu Sang Chul. I've already said a few things about Ko Jung Won in this thread.
Loved the Horse. He was a nifty player with soft feet and could run circles around opponents. The guy was tough as nails too and didnt take sh!t from anybody.
He was built like granite. I remember seeing him celebrating a goal with his shirt off. His body would put a lot of bodybuilders to shame. Thankfully, he kept his shorts on though.