The usual. Lengthy Instagram post apologising. "I misspoke", "I'm dedicated and will always give my all for the country" etc.
Sonny followed him again shortly.
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Sonny followed him again shortly.
I had no idea that that was the case, that's quite an amazing stat given they must surely have been "objectively" nº 1 or 2 in the region for decades.
Is there some reason behind it that I'm not seeing or are they just Asia's England in terms of bad luck and underachievement?
I meant the original slur towards Sonny.....
Yes, pretty much underachieving. Always losing in the semis or finals to perennial rivals Japan or Iran (or to Ange's Socceroos!)
Doubt they win this year too. Japan is just too strong.
Would win almost every single time? lol.. This tournament is not that easy..
It's way easier to win Asian Games bc most teams like Japan dont give a shit abt it and Korea gets their best players with 3 overage players to win it no matter what.
It is a different story for the Asian Cup. Every team gives their best for this tournament esp those who can't play in the WC. No one expected Qatar to win the last Asian Cup, and they did.
Oh, right.
During a post-game interview after a friendly, Kim stated he wanted to focus on club football for a while and even vaguely insinuated that he wanted to retire from international football (the part he claims he misspoke). So not really a slur against Sonny but Sonny took exception to his statement.
For context, Kim got exemption at the same time as Sonny.
From what I understand, Asian cup does not exempt them from military service. Only Asian games do.
Its really Japan and Korea are clear favorites now.. Before it was pretty level but now Japan and Korea can basically field 12 players that play in Europe. Saudi / Iran and Australia are good but they are not on they level of those 2 countries. Although it wont be "easy" those 2 teams should be winning it most of the time.
Why would they even refuse to go to the Asian cup?
Actually, you're absolutely right. I was misinformed. In fact, they got rid of the World Cup exemption too after it was seen as unfair.
Nothing is guaranteed in football. Saudi beat Argentina in the WC. Qatar won the last Asian Cup. Japan beat Germany AND Spain in the last World Cup. Korea always has been a favorite for the past few decades and they havent won it for the last 64 yrs.
Yea nothing is guaranteed in sports... but favorites are favorites. You don't see Saudi's winning the WC because they beat Argentina right?
4 years ago Asian teams were considered pretty weak and were in the low tier. However, that is not the case anymore. Japan has like over 50 players that play in Europe and alot of them are very good. (Kubo, Mitoma, Kamada, Ito, Endo etc)
Korea doesn't have as much as Japan but have high quality players like Son, KMJ, Hwang, Lee Kang in and many other players in Europe.
Saudi is still playing with all domestic players, Australia's Europe base players are mostly in the low table teams Scottish league. I'd say Iran poses the most threat but thats about it. I can't see teams like Vietnam, India or whatever other teams even coming close. The gap is still too big between those 2 and the others.
Hey just wanted to expand upon the events for anyone that cares. I'm pretty sure Sonny had no beef at all. The entire thing was really nothing.
- After South Korea lose in a friendly to Uruguay 2-1, Kim says in a short post game interview, that 'he is mentally tired and wants to focus on Napoli right now'.
- Some South Koreans think Kim is being disrespectful to the National Team
- Kim apologies on Instagram saying something like, 'he misspoke in the post game interview. He loves playing for his country and will always play when called up'.
- Son definitely reads the post and likes it
- Short time after Son makes his own post apologising for the loss saying , 'that he didn't do enough in the game. And that it's an honour playing for his country.' He posts similar things all the time.
- Some Koreans think Son is having a dig at Min
- Min unfollows Son. OMG shocking I know... We don't know why, but I guess we assume Min is also thinking Son was having a go at him.
- Koreans call Min out for this. Son is older, more senior in the team, captain, and pretty much the county's pin-up boy.
- Min privately apologies to Son before publicly apologising in an interview. They are now BFF again.
- All this happens in like 4 days.
While we are on the subject, the way Sonny handled the Kim situation was simply brilliant.
He didn't publicly call out Kim. Instead, he just said something along the lines of, "It's always an honour to play for the country" on Instagram and then quietly unfollowed Kim.
Of course everyone noticed. Media had a field day and Kim backtracked pretty quickly.
Wrong. Kim unfollowed Son. Also Sonny makes posts like that all the time after international matches. He did not call out anyone. It was all due to misunderstandings, they are totally fine now.
Is there any chance they can meet well before the final so south korea can have an early exit?
Your post suggested that players were either not trying or declaring themselves unavailable....
Forget it.
If both of them go 1st in their group the will eventually meet in the finals which is likely.
They face each other in the round of 16 if Japan finishes 2nd and Korea finishes 1st in their groups.
Iran currently beating Japan 2-0 with not long to go. Who knows.. maybe SK and Japan to meat in the 1st knockout round 
Iran currently beating Japan 2-0 with not long to go. Who knows.. maybe SK and Japan to meat in the 1st knockout round
Iraq*
Wow. Didnt expect them to lose to Iraq 1-2. This is why Asian Cup is very unpredictable.