04/19/24
March 26, 2010
South Korea’s Formidable 'Double Dragon': Nice intro to two young emerging South Korean stars, both 21 and regularly playing for Bolton and Celtic as well as forming the midfield engine for their national team.
posted by billsaysthis to soccer at 12:33 PM - 6 comments
Kewell was injury jinxed during his time at Anfield. Schwarzer and Cahill, to name two of his compatriots, have had no difficulties in the English game.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:08 AM on March 27, 2010
I was being a little facetious. There are 300 Australians playing in Europe, not just England, and about another 30 in Asia (the geographic part, not the FIFA confederation).
posted by owlhouse at 01:46 AM on March 27, 2010
Actually, I think the quality of play in the A-League is decent too, owlie. I saw the four matches between Sydney and Melbourne from the end of the season through the Grand Final and would put either team up against the top two or three from MLS or the Mexican league (though the latter would probably win five out of seven).
posted by billsaysthis at 01:20 PM on March 27, 2010
The A-League has been good for football development, but can't compete with overseas in terms of salaries. When Adelaide United made the Asian Champions League final against Gamba Osaka in 2008, Gamba's left back earned more than the entire Adelaide team.
Didn't we used to have a pre-season tournament with both A-League and MLS clubs? The Galaxy and Sydney were involved, and were pretty evenly matched I thought. Then there was the 'Beckham friendly' matches against Wellington and Sydney a while back. Should be more of it.
posted by owlhouse at 05:32 PM on March 27, 2010
Owlie, that's the Pan Pacific Tournament help in Hawaii. Not sure if it was help in the most recent MLS off-season though.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:07 PM on March 29, 2010
Thanks, a good story.
On a related tangent, other Asian confederation footballers have had trouble adjusting to Europe, including at Liverpool.