U might of noticed that i'm quite into my football...as a result, I do read match reports and other football related articles. Mostly, such reports are of a high calibire, written by 'professionals' in that particular field for newspaper and other media outlets.
However, I have a problem with Korean reporting of the beautiful game. Some background:- Korea played Iran in a friendly. It was Dick Advocaat's 1st game in charge of the Korean National Team. Below is a newspaper report of the game...i've highlighted some totally crap parts of it to emphasis how crap the National Press is here and how unknowledgable the reporters are. Honestly, the writing is shocking. It makes the Sun look like a work of genius.
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"The South Korean football team made a
pleasant start (**/pleasant?!?/**) under the new leadership of Dick Advocaat, brining the Dutchman a 2-0 debuting victory against Iran in Wednesday’s friendly at Seoul’s Sangam World Cup Stadium.
As if sweeping away all the hustle and bustle that has been whirled in since the 2002 World Cup, the squad gave a remarkable performance to put the
sellout crowd (
**/it wasn't - perhaps 3/4 full/**) into frenzy and herald a new start into the 2006 World Cup.
South Korea got ahead of their Middle Eastern archrivals in their encounters with eight wins, seven losses and three draws. They also avenged their latest defeat to the Iranians in the quarterfinal match of last year’s Asian Cup. This year, South Korea records 6-5-5.
Midfielder Cho Won-hee made it an unforgettable day in his career by
scoring the winner (**/how can the 1st goal in a 2-0 win be classed as the 'winner'. The winner is the odd goal in a mtach, usually scored in the dying minutes of a match/**) in his first cap as a national team member and also setting a record for the fastest goal ever made by the national team.
The 22-year-old Suwon BlueWings player made it a double pleasure by being
selected MVP (**/is that the match of the man?/**) in the game.
To most fans’ surprise, Advocaat employed two national team
newbie (
**/eh?/**) Is that someone making his debut?/** midfielders, Cho and Lee Ho, as starters. The adventurous attempt worked well as the two debutants were
stellar on the pitch, running the squad smoothly, but most of all, answered in the most amazing way available. (
**/what is that all about. Utter nonsense - it's not even real English/**)
Kim Dong-jin sent a cross from left. Mohammad Nosrati cleared it with a header but Cho got the ball and fired a
right-footer (**/right foot shot, no?/**) right out from box, which deflected hitting Nosrati, then Rahman Rezaei, to
find a hole to the net. It was just 59 seconds into the first half.
South Korea was dominant throughout the first half thanks to the young, stable and aggressive midfielders’ line.
With tight press upon their opponents (**/is the reporter ironing or something?/**) working well, South Korea didn’t allow a dangerous moment.
In the 15th minute, Lee Dong-gook fired a volley off a Kim Do-heon cross but ended up hitting a defender right in front of Iranian goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour. Three minutes later, a powerful Kim Jin-kyu free kick went wide left of the post.
A handful of scoring chances by Iran
came off feet of key player Ali Karimi. In the 21st minute, the midfielder beat two Korean defenders into the box and shot a right-footer right in the box but it met with the side of the net.
With the beginning of the second half, South Korea made another challenging change in the squad. Midfielder Baek Ji-hoon replaced veteran defender Choi Jin-cheul, who led successfully the
3-back line in his comeback match, to make it a rarely used
4-back system.
(**/never heard Hansen mention this/**)That was when the Iranians
started to come on tough(**/like a bully or something/**), capitalizing on the less solid Korean defense. They seemed to have an advantage in the midfield but it didn’t lead to an equalizer. Karimi’s left-footer in the 53rd failed to score and a free kick by Fereydoon Zandi threatened the Korean side 10 minutes later. Substitute Arash Borhani headed off a corner in the mouth of the goal in the 77th but it went up the woodwork. However, the hosts again scored the second goal
for a fine finish.Right at the end of the second half, Ahn Jung-hwan, who replaced Lee Dong-gook, intercepted the ball around the circle and went for a counter with a thundering rush to the box. France’s
FC Mets (**/is that F.C. Metz - get ur facts right/**) striker slotted it to the inrushing defender Kim Jin-kyu, who fired a left-footer. It hit the leg of Rezaei, lobed over the goalie Mirzapour and went into the goal, for his third goal in international matches, to seal South Korea’s victory. "
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Utter pap___________'journalism' at it's absolute worst.E-mail the reporter on:
hckim@koreatimes.co.kr and tell him/her that they are mince and should be sacked.