Son Heung-min is part of a new wave of players aiming to enhance South Korea’s status at the World Cup, no longer content with merely being Asia’s most successful performer on football’s biggest stage.
The South Koreans have progressed past the group stage in two of the last three World Cups, reaching the semi-finals as co-host in 2002 and the last 16 in 2010.
Approaching their eighth consecutive appearance at the World Cup, South Korea boast a young squad full of players with European experience and led by a young and popular coach in Hong Myong-bo.
Hong has good credentials. He was captain of the 2002 team that reached the semi-finals, prompting millions of chanting fans to flood into downtown streets to watch the team’s progress on giant screens. As a coach, Hong took his country to the quarter-finals of the Under-20 World Cup in 2009 and to a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics.
The World Cup presents the biggest test yet for 45-year-old former defender. In Group H, South Korea will face Russia, Algeria and Belgium.
“Every game at the World Cup is difficult, every team is a strong team, but we believe in ourselves and our ability,” Hong said. “This is a young team but we also have lots of experience in competitions around the world and who play in the best leagues of Europe and Asia. We believe in ourselves and each other.”
Hong took over as head coach last July after South Korea struggled through qualification under Choi Kang-hee. Criticiaed for unimaginative and predictable football, the team qualified for Brazil by the narrowest of margins amid claims of disunity among the players.
Choi had always planned to step down after qualification and, as expected, Hong was appointed on a two-year contract. While Choi seemed to struggle to deal with the team’s Europe-based stars and preferred K-League players, Hong’s squad in a friendly against Greece in March was stacked with foreign-based players.
The result was an impressive 2-0 win over the Greeks in Athens, with Son Heung-min and Park Chu-young scoring spectacular goals.
Much depends on such stars. Son is one of the brightest young talents in Germany and moved to Bayer Leverkusen in the off-season after three promising seasons with Hamburg. Koo Ja-cheol, Hong Jeong-ho, Park Joo-ho and Ji Dong-won are also active in the Bundesliga.
Ki Sung-yueng and Kim Bo-kyung play in the Premier League while Park Chu-young is on loan from Arsenal.
Under Hong, South Korea have tried to play a fast, counter-attacking style. And while the team have options going forward, even though former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung recently declined the opportunity to return from international retirement, there are issues at the back.
The South Koreans are vulnerable from set pieces and still uncertain over the top goalkeeper with Jung Sung-Ryong struggling for form. If the defence can stay solid, South Korea has the attacking talent to trouble Group H opponents and perhaps others in the knockout stage.
“The first game is so important,” Hong said. “If we win that, we have a high chance of getting to the next round. But in tournaments, you never know what is going to happen and you always need a little luck.”
With plenty of European-based talent, South Korea hasve players with top-level experience and the quality to makes things happen on the field.
Chief among them may be Son Heung-min, the Bayer Leverkusen forward who can change games with his pace and shooting.
Other standouts include Sunderland playmaker Ki Sung-Yeung and Kim Young-gwon, a 24-year-old defender who is likely to be South Korea’s next big export to Europe.
Here are five players to watch:
Son Heung-min – Potentially South Korea's game-changer, forward Son Heung-min is ready to prove himself at the World Cup after making his name in the Bundesliga.
Transferred to Bayer Leverkusen last July after three seasons at Hamburg, the 21-year-old Son has not been consistently excellent for his new team but when he has played well, he’s played very well.
Son is a striker who likes to use his pace to sprint past defenders from deep and then shoot from distance. He tends to score in streaks. And if he can get into groove in Brazil, South Korea will possess a powerful weapon.
Not always used well in the past for the national team, Son has started to find his form under coach Hong Myong-bo.
Ki Sung-yueng – Sunderland playmaker Ki Sung-yueng controls the tempo of the South Korean team, and after an impressive season for his club he is now regarded as one of the best passers in the Premier League.
Still only 25 but with 56 international appearances, Ki is approaching his peak and rarely gives the ball away.
The issue for South Korea coach Hong Myong-bo is whether to keep Ki deep, where he is a valuable outlet for defenders, or push him up the field where his passing can unlock backlines.
Kim Young-gwon – Marcello Lippi declared in 2013 that central defender Kim Young-gwon was good enough to play for Manchester United, one of the highest compliments that could be paid to a young Asian prospect.
Kim has been a star since joining Chinese team Guangzhou Evergrande in 2012, helping them to the 2013 Asian Champions League title.
Physically strong, good in the air and on the ground, the 24-year-old Kim occasionally is caught napping but is improving all the time and expected to be playing in Europe very soon.
Jung Sung-Ryong – The goalkeeping position is a worry for South Korea coach Hong Myong-bo, but 2010 custodian Jung Sung-ryung is likely to start ahead of Kim Seung-gyu.
Much depends on how Jung turns up.
The keeper during Seongnam’s run to the 2010 Asian Champions League title seemed unbeatable, but any repeat of the clumsy performances of the second half of the 2013 K-League season could result in South Korea heading home early.
Park Chu-young – Arsenal striker Park Chu-young has only played seven minutes in the Premier League since joining the English club in August 2011 and is now on loan to second-division club Watford as he bids to stay in shape.
Inactivity at Arsenal cost Park his international place, but before the move to London he was one of Asia’s top strikers.
Now back in the team, Park scored from a fierce half-volley against Greece in March.
Clever and technically excellent, Park leads the line well and links up with the team’s talented attackers.
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
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