(News Focus) S. Korea`s surprise run at youth World Cup thanks to skills, cohesion

By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- Since 2005, the LPGA Tour has used this tagline for
their ad campaigns: "These Girls Rock."
Today, you can say the same about the South Korean women's football team of
players under age 20.
Offense carried South Korea to the final four, making it the first time a South
Korean women's team has reached that stage of a FIFA-sanctioned event. The
juggernaut of a squad poured in eight goals in the three group matches, and then
routed Mexico 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
The clock struck midnight on this Cinderella unit with the humbling 5-1 loss to
Germany in the semifinals early Friday. Then it nudged Columbia 1-0 to finish
third on Sunday.
Through it all, the girls became the unlikely darlings of a football-crazed nation.
On surface, this is another classic rags-to-riches, beating-the-odds story, an
all-too familiar refrain about lacking funding and resources but overcoming
difficulties. South Korea has but six professional women's clubs and only 65
registered teams in the nation. There are only about 1,400 registered South
Korean female footballers, compared to more than a million Germans.
But to dismiss the girls' improbable run as just another fairy tale is to ignore
the sheer talent and flair with which they have rocked the football world.
South Korea has played possession football, relying on the ability to control the
ball and make short, crisp passes darting through defensive holes. It's an
opportunistic brand of play that helped Spain capture its first World Cup title
earlier this month in South Africa despite scoring only eight goals, a record-low
total for a champion.
Several national squads and pro clubs around the world have been trying to copy
the style, but not anyone can pull it off. You need skillful players who have the
instinct to make the sharp passes and strikers with a nose for the goal who can
convert those chances.
And South Korea has both types of players.
Ji So-yun, who has eight goals in the tournament, is clearly the offensive
leader. Her diminutive stature and eye-popping skill sets have earned Ji the
nickname "Ji Messi," after the Argentine great Lionel Messi.
Midfielder Kim Na-rae is considered the field general for the squad thanks to her
vision and accurate passing skills.
When the women's national team was first formed in the early 1990s, most players
were former sprinters or athletes from different sports. They might have had
speed, but lacked polish as footballers.
The Korea Football Association, the governing body of the sport, notes that the
current crop of players started at an early age, and they have been groomed as
football players. The football fever that erupted in 2002, when the South Korean
men's team reached the semifinals of the World Cup, also fueled the growth of
youth football on the female side.
Plus, the KFA says, the girls have had the benefit of organized football thanks
to its national youth development program that starts with the under-12 group.
Some of the U-20 members have been playing together for up to seven years.
In short, South Korea is a one-for-all, all-for-one, tight unit with skills to
boot. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that the team has come this far.
The senior edition of the Women's World Cup is slated for next year in Germany.
Some of the U-20 members will be over 20 and will be eligible to play.
The senior tournament will be a different animal. South Korea will have to go up
against countries with a much larger talent pool. Youngsters who couldn't crack
the U-20 team this year for, say Germany, may well develop into stars by next
year's tournament. South Korea won't have such luxury of depth.
But South Korean girls have made a career out of beating the odds not just with
old-school values like grit and hard work, but also with pure skills. This year's
U-20 tournament will also serve as a huge boost to their collective confidence.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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