It is an oriental belief that fortune takes turns and, it looks correct as Korea Republic are to be challenged by two Arab sides in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the central Asian power Uzbekistan in Group A of the final round of qualifying for 2006 FIFA World Cup™.
With Korea Republic's performances at 2002 FIFA World Cup still fresh in the mind,
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A 4-0 drubbing of Kuwait at the group stage of this year's Asian Cup under new Dutch coach Jo Bonfrere may have briefly boosted the team's confidence, but a 3-4 defeat to Iran in the quarter-finals proved that the Taeguk Warriors are far from their best form.
With Korea Republic struggling to get back on track, three-time Asian champions Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are looking to rebuild past glories by qualifying from this group. And, former Soviet republic Uzbekistan,
authentic jerseys from china, who won the 1994 Asian Games, are emerging from a 10-year silence hoping to realize their first-ever FIFA World Cup dream.
Arab blockade
Coach Bonfrere was fully aware how hard his job would be to satisfy the fanatical Korean fans and, how keen his opponents are to beat them. "We are in a hunting party and every team is excited about beating us,
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Korea Republic may be the continent's most frequent visitors to FIFA World Cups, but they have an indifferent record against Arab sides, particularly Kuwait. The middle eastern side have won six of their eleven meetings and only lost four. The skilful Arab teams seem to make life difficult for Koreans,
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But the two Arab sides have their own problems as both of them are in transition with new faces coming through to replace the old generation. "The majority of my team are players from our Olympic team,
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Bonfrere starts preparation for their opening match with Kuwait of 9 February, 2005 with a measure of confidence, given the caliber of the PSV Eindhoven duo Lee Young-pyo and Park Ji-sung, Anderlecht's Seol Ki-hyeon and 2002 FIFA World Cup hero Ahn Jung-hwan. "We are certainly the favourites in our group, but we still have to find our best team," he declared to FIFAworldcup.com.
A 10-year dream
Uzbekistan briefly set the stage alight by winning gold in the 1994 Asian Games in their debut, but they had gone through a ten-year hiatus before they rose again to impress in this year's Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, there they sent Olympic semi-finalists Iraq home.
They proved their enormous potential when they edged out Saudi Arabia 1-0 at this year's Asian Cup, a perfect revenge to the Arab side who trounced them 5-0 four years ago. They finished top with three straight group victories to reach the quarter-finals, where they lost to a resilient Jordan team. And all this was done without five of their star internationals, including Dynamo Kiev striker Maksim Shatskikh.
Uzbekistan success can be attributed to their focus on youth and their improved organisation. "We try to use new players in international games to help them gain experience,
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With two month to go before their group opener with Saudi Arabia on 9 February, 2005, new coach Jürgen Gede appears confident: "We are familiar with them."
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