Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #624: Look-ahead to South Korea with Steve Han

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Steve Han, a longtime Goal.com reporter and now FIFA's content lead for South Korea and the host of YouTube channel FairPoint Football, joins Belz to talk about soccer in the Korean Republic, Son's move to LAFC, what the 2002 run meant for the sport in the country, and of course, who's likely to make an impact in the game on Saturday.Fairpoint Football on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fairpointfootballSteve on Twitter: https://x.com/realstevescores Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff Podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Our guest today is Steve Hahn, a journalist who covers South Korean football and East Asian football in general. He's the Korean content lead for FIFA.com, but his work appears lots of places and his YouTube channel, Fairpoint Football, is definitely worth checking out. He sat down with Yergen Clemsman for like 90 minutes a few months ago, and it's an excellent interview. There's lots more to check out there as well. Anyway, Steve, welcome to scuffed. Thanks for your time. Adam, thank you, man.

Thanks for having me on. And yeah, just looking forward to this. I've been excited ever since you got touch with me last week. That's great. That's awesome. So South Korea qualified for the World Cup in a trot, finishing off with a 4-0 home win over Kuwait. A couple of questions about that.

So how difficult is the travel for players for the Korean national team? We talk about our part of the world presenting problems with travel, but you really got to double those distances when it comes. Yeah. So what effect does that have? Yeah, I mean, I think it's the worst, man, for players in East Asia because I think it's worse than players from any other region, maybe except the Australians and the players from the OFC region like New Zealand. Yeah. Because I think when it comes to the U.S., I mean, you guys have it pretty bad, too.

Don't get me wrong. But I think the biggest challenge for the players in the U.S. are actually the players in MLS. the MLS players who have to travel across such a big country on a weekly basis because, I mean, to me, the U.S. is more like a continent than a country, at least in terms of, you know, its sheer size, to be honest. And, I mean, I asked Steve Shorundalo what Sonny's biggest challenge in MLS would be something that he might have never experienced in Europe. And it didn't even take him a second.

He said, it's going to be traveling. So, you know, I've also spoken to Huang Inbun, one of one of Korea's midfielers who played for the Vancouver whitecaps in the past. And, you know, in his first season in MLS in 2000, or was it, no, it was 2019. He was completely destroyed by the amount of traveling he had to do. Just within MLS, and on top of all that, he had to travel to Korea for the national team games. You know, because in Korea, especially for players who were brought up domestically, you can get to any city in Korea from anywhere in a couple hours at most.

You know what I mean? So it's a completely different challenge when you're in North America. but I just think that when it comes to the national team, especially during these World Cup qualifying games, you know, Korean players in Europe, they often traveled to Korea from Europe for one of their first of the two games to play in Seoul, and then they travel to the Middle East to play their second game

before they return to their clubs. So, you know, the amount of traveling that they have to do, and the fact that they have to do this every three to four weeks, I honestly think it kind of shortens their careers, to be honest. Man, yeah. No wonder Messi doesn't want to play in the All-Star game, you know? Yeah. So are all the, I was watching some footage of games at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Are all the home qualifiers there? And are all the national team games there? I am sure if the KFA had the option or if it was possible, they would love to host every game in Seoul. Because, I mean, it is the landmark venue for Korean soccer. It's where the opening game of the World Cup in 2002 was held. It was where Korea themselves played a World Cup semi-final game, you know, in 2002. So it is a historic, a landmark venue in Korean football. And obviously, you know, the atmosphere, whenever Korea plays there is fantastic, too.

But the problem with the Seoul World Cup Stadium is that I don't know if you've heard about this, but we have a pitch crisis in Korea right now. Wow. So that no longer allows the KFA to host the national team games there. every time like they want to because, I mean, we could probably do a whole podcast episode on this, to be honest. But long story short, there's a law in South Korea that bans professional sports teams or sporting organizations from owning a public venue like soccer stadiums.

So the stadiums often have to be managed by the local government, who obviously will try to serve their own interest by using those venues to host, you know, like local events, concerts and things like that, because they got to monetize that venue, you know what I mean? Yeah. And on top of that, you consider the climate change in Korea that's been pretty extreme, to say the least, in the last few years. You know, there's no quality pitch to play soccer in Korea these days, which is shocking. So the KFA has literally been scrambling, you know, across the country to find a stadium

with a proper pitch to host these World Cup qualifying games. And it's hard to believe that such a thing is happening. in a country like Korea. But, you know, that's been the reality that we live in. And you mentioned the atmosphere, you know, at the Games in Seoul, you know, talking about that, obviously, yeah, you know, absolutely. It's pretty electric on most nights when Korea play there. But you also have probably noticed that it's electric in a way that's slightly different

from what you would normally expect in maybe in North America or Europe or in South America because, you know, the atmosphere of the games in Europe or in Europe or, you know, the atmosphere of the games in Europe or maybe even in North America, the atmosphere is kind of driven by the performance on the pitch. You know what I mean? Like if a player plays a great pass, you'll see the crowd kind of getting into it, along with the plays that happened.

But in Korea, it's kind of like the crowd will react once their favorite players on the ball or once their favorite players on the big screen in the stadium. So it's a bit more like the K-pop concert, to be honest. So the fan culture is a slightly different. I don't know if I can say that there's anything wrong with that, to be honest, culture. So I assume you've been to a few games there.

Of course. Yeah, of course. Ever since I was a kid, it's, yeah, it's a little different, man. It's a little different from what you see in Europe or even in America. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So Son is playing for L.A.F.C. and Major League Soccer now. How do you, how do you feel about that? Surreal. It's probably the best way to, best way to put it, especially because I'm from L.A. I'm a Korean American from L.A. and I've been covering MLS for about 15. years now, you know, since the Beckham era at the Galaxy. So I think Lafc themselves,

you know, the situation that I'm looking at right now, Lafc themselves, MLS themselves, and also the Korean media ourselves, we're still trying to figure out how we're going to do this, because it's not, it's not just that we've never had a Korean player of this caliber in MLS. You know, we've never had a Korean player of this caliber in a league that's not in Europe in this sport. And that's really the issue here. And to be honest, the Korean people in general, they're not familiar with teams and players that are in MLS. You know what it means? You know, whereas the Premier League, you know, what they loved about it was that Sonny was going up against these players in the Premier League that the Korean people already knew.

Yeah. You know what I mean? So now Korean people are in a situation. where they have to learn this league, where they have to learn these players and these teams. So, you know, from media standpoint, are people disappointed that he made that move? I think there was a,

there was a small community of people that were, that were disappointed to see him make this move right before the, in a World Cup year. But I think for the most part, you know, Sonny has earned this status in Korea where, you know, anything he does will, there will be people who appreciate him,

a large majority of people. And, you know, especially after, you know, putting in 15 years of whatever he did in Europe, both in Bundes League and the Premier League, you know, for him to want to play in L.A., I don't think. And especially with the World Cup being here a year from now, like, there isn't too much of a sourness from the fan base, to be honest. I mean, you can see a lot of arguments for it, you know, get used to the climate, get used to the travel like we were talking about. So all U.S. fans are going to know him, of course, basically a legend, I mean, to everybody who follows soccer. And a lot will know Lee Kongin. I mean, correct me if my pronunciation is just way off on any of these. It's better than most, man.

It's good. Okay, okay. But who else should we really be afraid of in this game on Saturday? Like maybe somebody we don't know about. Sure. Normally, I would have said, Pongen bummed. the player that I mentioned who once played in MLS. He's playing in Féiter now, playing in the Netherlands.

I've been an excellent player since, since, you know, ever since he left Korea, to be honest, even when he was in Korea. And, you know, he's been playing in the Champions League, scored a goal against Manchester City last season. You know, but he's injured. Okay. He was just replaced. So he won't be playing.

If I have to pick one player, a standout player for Korea, outside of the usual ones, I would have to go with Selyongwu, the right back, who plays for Red Star Belgrade. He's been of a rarity from the standpoint that the fullback position has always been the weak link for Korea for about the last decade or so. And, you know, he's one of the very few players who's starting to show some promise in that position. And the special thing about him is that he can play both fullback positions, both left and right. Okay. And he's a complete player as well.

you know, a lot of the previous fullbacks to Korea has had super attack-minded. So defensively, there were liabilities. But, you know, So, you know, Soryong was somebody who was a little bit more balanced. So he's not, he's probably not somebody who you would watch and, you know, a 90-minute game and say, man, he was the best player on the pitch. But when you actually watch him play, just a real solid player who will do his job. All right. I want to get into, like, who you, like, like a full projected lineup for the game on Saturday.

But let's, let's cover a few other things first. So is it true? Jen's Castrop, the Perusha-Munchand-Glaabak player. He's the first foreign-born mixed heritage player in history for the Korean national team? So the first foreign-born player was probably Chaduri, the son of the legendary Chabam Gun. He was born in Germany, but he was a full-blooded, he was a full-blooded Korean. The first mid-castrop is not the first mixed-race player. to play for the national team, but he is the first mixed-race player born outside of Korea.

Okay. So both of those things together. Yeah. Yeah. And he's probably the, not probably, he is the first Korean player to join the Korean national team without an ability to speak Korean, which is quite a big deal. And if you consider the Korean, Korean culture, I'm actually curious to see how that's going to work out. Because we've never had a player who didn't speak Korean play for Korea. And I'm sure, you know, there are staffers, you know, at the KFA who can probably translate for him. So that's probably not a big issue.

But I just wonder how, you know, in terms of the dynamic of the relationships between the players, you know, amongst the players and also with the coaching step, I just, I just do wonder how that's going to work out. Yeah. Yeah. I went to boarding school with a bunch of with a lot of Korean students. That's interesting. And I wonder, I wonder just thinking back to how they sort of were together and like anybody who was like a little different.

Exactly. You know? Yeah. Anyway. So this is a big deal. This is seen as a big deal in Korea. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And I think one of the reasons why he's in this camp for the first time is because this is me, assuming. I don't have information on this, but I just feel like both the KFA and the national team coaching staff, they probably felt a little bit too pressure to call him when the camp is actually in Korea because all the eyes that would be on him, all the media

coverage, because this is a player who might not even play this in this window. You know what I mean? So to have him in Korea, getting all that attention from the media probably would have been a little bit too much, but to have them here where there's less media exposure because not a whole lot of Korean media will be traveling for this game.

So I think that's part of the reason why he's in this camp. Kind of ease him in. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Is this a first choice roster for South Korea? Like how much experimentation is there on? Is it like four or five kind of bubble guys? Or this is like... Yeah.

Huang and Bum is missing because of an injury, so that's, you know, the coach's hands were tied there. Huang Yichan, who scored the winning goal for Korea against Portugal at the World Cup in Qatar three years ago who sent Korea to the last 16. He's surprisingly, very shockingly, he's not injured, but he wasn't selected for this camp. And the player replacing him, interestingly enough, is the St. Louis striker, Zheng Sangbin.

He's the one replacing Huangichan. And Huangichan has been one of the star players for Korea, one of the key players for Korea for, I would say, since the 2018 World Cup, to be honest. So not having him does make you wonder if the coach is If Hong Myeongbo is experimenting with this squad a little bit more than what we expected But outside of, you know, Huang and Bum's injury and Huang Yichan not being around This is this is probably the strongest team that Korea can feel Okay

So I got a question from a listener Dan Watts in Indianapolis asks So how do how might fans of Korea or maybe the Korean national team view the USA as an opponent in a friendly win the USA manager is doing something

totally different. He's like, this roster is very experimental like it's a fact-finding mission. You mean how does, from a Korean standpoint,

how do we view the American, like the USMNT? Yeah, the USMNT coming into this with like not, I mean, I think mostly he's asking this to make the point that the USA is not, which is frustrating to a lot of us. But, but I mean, is that, yeah, how would a Korean fan view that if they even think about it, which I...

I think the biggest point of interest from a Korean standpoint is the fact that the U.S. is being coached by Maricio Pocetino, who the Korean fans are very, they remember him very fondly because of, you know, his history with Sonny at Tottenham. And just the fact that Sonny will be going up against him, you know, in a game, like this is drawing quite an interest. But when it comes to the perception of U.S. soccer amongst the Korean fan base, I think most Koreans acknowledge that this is a very strong team, to be honest. We probably don't see the U.S. in the same class as, you know, some of the big countries

from Europe and South America. But I do think, you know, amongst, you know, the soccer fan base, there is a strong understanding that the U.S. is probably just below that tier of top teams. And they probably are, to be honest. I mean, I know you guys have struggled in recent months, but, you know, this is still a very strong squad from the way I see it. And, you know, obviously Christian Pulisic is somebody that a lot of Korean fans already know because of his time at Perusia Dortmund and also with Chelsea especially. So, yeah, there's definitely a level of respect. I don't think any serious South Korean fan

would go into this game thinking that this this should be a win for Korea. A win in New Jersey for Korea would be a big result to be honest. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I feel, don't you feel like we're kind of in the same tier? I mean, it's the roughly...

I think a lot of I think a lot of Korean fans would agree with you on that. My personal take is that the U.S. is probably slightly higher than where Korea is, to be honest. I mean, South Korea has been to a I mean, let me ask a very fundamental question. Is, you don't say South Korea, do you?

You just say Korea. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. But I should say South Korea. No, I'm not saying you should. I want to say the way you say it. Yeah, we say Korea just because to us, Korea is Korea. You know what I mean?

Korea is us. But I get it from like the standpoint of you guys. Like when you say Korea, oh, is it north or south? Like there's always that question. But for us, when we say Korea, it's just, we're talking about us. You know what I mean? So yeah, there's no like, I'm not being insulted at all when you, when somebody calls me in South Korean, but it's just that we never really distinguish that, like, when we're talking to ourselves, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

It shouldn't, I mean, it doesn't, I don't know that the distinction really needs to be made, you know, most of the time because, like, I guess North Korea is pretty good at U20 soccer, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, which, especially at women's level. Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah. Okay. MCB asks, what's the current, this is a big question, what's the current state, this is MCB in Harlem, by the way, what's the current state of soccer in South Korean sporting culture? Is it the top sport?

What's the status and perception of the Korean League among? Yeah, this is always an interesting question. I get this question a lot. And I think the most popular professional sports league would hands down be the baseball league. You know, the atmosphere at the baseball games, you know, and also from a competitive standpoint, the competition at the top of the league, it's something that the K-League has really struggled to match. But when it comes to the most popular sports team,

it's definitely the Korean national soccer team. You know, it's the most talked-about team in sports media in Korea, and it's also the most controversial team. And to be honest, also the most beloved team. And, you know, speaking of the K-League, I mean, the league managed to crack the average attendance of, you know, of 10,000 fans per game recently for the first time. since the match fixing scandal in 2011.

So we're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Now, the atmosphere at the game now, it's actually pretty nice. So hopefully things continue to improve from there. And, you know, because, like, yeah, it's quite interesting because when it comes to the actual professional league, it's the baseball league. But when it comes to the team, it's the national soccer team. Okay. That's really interesting.

I wouldn't have known that. Because you know how it's like the end of USL? You know, nobody would say that it's the most popular sports league in the U.S. You know what I mean? But the U.S. W&T, it's probably one of the most popular teams. Yeah. A little bit similar, but probably even more overwhelming than that. Americans love a winner, baby.

There you go. Same with the Koreans, man. Yeah. Okay. Let's see here. Do you believe that it is important for players to leave the K-League and play in Europe to raise the level of the of the Korean national team? Or do you, yeah, go ahead.

Another very interesting question, because these days, we're starting to see Korean players between like the ages of 17 and 19, leaving Korea after one year in the K-League and joining a big European League and then going on loan from there. We're starting, you know, we're seeing that, you know,

with Yang Min-Yung at Totnam, who was recently loaned to Portsmouth, you know, You know, he was recently loaned to Excelsiorgio. or I believe he scored about a week ago. Katsung-su at Newcastle, who I'd assume at some point would go on loan. He hasn't gone on loan yet.

You know, all three of them are 18-year-old players who've made their move in the last year or so. And they played one season in the K-League before going to the Premier League. And I get it. You know, business is business. So, you know, if the players got to make the move, they've got to make the move.

But when we have these young, homegrown players in the K-League, just personally, I'd much rather have these guys, play in Korea for at least about three seasons, especially when they make their debut when they're 17, 18, you know, to kind of get their, like, feet wet, you know, in a professional setting before they go to go through such a big change in their lives in Europe because, you know, like at age 18, as a Korean kid, that's too much of a, that's too much of a drastic change,

especially, you know, after your life in Korea, where you grew up, it already changed so much because in the last 12 years, you just went from going to high school to being a professional athlete in Korea. So you go through that change in your own country to go to the Premier League at age 18 only a year after playing professionally in Korea, it just seems a little bit premature to me.

Because in the past, you know, we've had Korean players like, you know, Li Chong Yong, Kisong, who've played about three years in Korea and they moved to Europe at age 21, 22. You guys might even remember some of these guys because they played with guys like, you know, Stu Holden, Tim Ream, Michael Bradley, guys like that in the Premier League and in Europe.

And they actually had very successful careers in Europe. So to put this in like American context, I guess, I think the point I'm trying to make is I'd much rather have somebody like Tyler Adams, you know, three years in MLS and then you go to Europe, you become this, you know, very stable or reliable player. I'd much rather have guys like then, guys like that, then have somebody like like young miniok who has a good

you know first season in the K league as a 17 year old and then he goes to Europe and he's kind of struggling to find his feet you know you just hate to see that because you want these 18 19 year olds to continue to play yeah i think it's not too late if they move abroad when they're 21 or 22 it has it makes a big difference which club you go to too like going on the loan into the lone army is always

yeah exactly perilous yeah yeah and you look at somebody like you know Pepe, you know, first couple years for him in Germany was a struggle for him because I'm sorry. I mean, it's a tough team, man. We've had a number of Korean guys play for that team. And, you know, but now in the Netherlands, he's, you know, starting to, he's starting to kind of find his feet again.

So, you know, that's good to see. But, you know, those couple years or so, he kind of lost those two very important years in his early in his career. And you just kind of, you know, hate to see that, whether it's an American player or a Korean player. Totally. Yeah. It's like going to play striker for Augsbergs or maybe any attacking positions, a little bit like

going to play quarterback for the Chicago Bears. There you go. Let's see. That was a question from Drew in Nashville, by the way. Carl in Rochester, New York asks, what aspects of the Korean team make you confident about a good 2026 World Cup performance and what aspects of the team, you know,

fuel your pessimism to the extent that you have any? Yeah. In terms of optimism, I mean, I think a lot of Koreans would agree that we've never had this level of talent play for Korea in the past. It's not just sunny. You know, you mentioned them. I, Gangan, playing for PSG, Kim, Inje, playing for Bayern Munich. I mean, I mentioned Huang and Bum as if it's one of the hidden players,

but he plays for fighter, the Champions League team. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? So, you know, we have players playing in the Champions League, players winning the Europa League, players 18-year-olds playing in Europe now in the Premier League. So we've never been in this kind of situation before. So now if we can just put ourselves in a position where we could kind of put these players in the right positions where they can really be successful,

you know, we're on the verge of seeing the strongest Korean team that we've seen if they live up to the expectations. They've been failing to live up to that expectations, to be honest, because they couldn't win the Asian Cup. but that's the hope a room for pessimism is the fact that when you go back and look at the previous cycle for the World Cup for 2022 it was under Palo Bentha for all four of those years teams struggled during those four years as well

but as we got closer to the tournament we saw them really just starting to come alive and but once we got to the tournament that first game against Uruguay we couldn't beat them but for Korea to go neck and neck with Uruguay at the World Cup is something that we've never seen before. We don't have that level of confidence

going into this World Cup, at least for now. Because we've already had two coaching changes. The current coach, I mean, we all have different opinions of him, but the general consensus is that we don't trust him. You know, that's kind of the reaction in Korea right now. And, you know, Korean players, I hate to say it,

but they're a little sensitive to criticism. So when there's no public support like this, it's very often it translates to their performance on the pitch. So we'll see how this goes because this is a different generation of players too. So we'll see how this affects them compared to the previous generations. But yeah, that's sort of like where we are. We have the players on paper that tells us that, hey, this could be one of the best, not one of the, this could be the best team that we've ever had.

But what we're seeing on the pitch right now and the things that have transpired over the last three to four years, it's kind of hard to find that balance, you know what I mean? Yeah. Okay. Man, this is great. Going back to history a little bit.

Dave from Pittsburgh says in 2002, South Korea achieved the very thing U.S. fans are hoping for in 2026, deep and exciting run at a Home World Cup. What was it like in the country when that was happening? And how was that team viewed before the World Cup and how did it change? I guess, yeah, I guess I say this a lot. Like, that was also something that we've never seen before and something that we never saw again after that. But that team, though, it was a special team because not just because it was a team that was good,

but also because the way that team was run. Because, I mean, Gus hitting coming to Korea a year before the World Cup, The national team camp was held every month. So it was essentially ran like a club team. So by the time we got to the World Cup, and there was also no qualifying for Korea because we've already qualified. Which is kind of a, it's like a blessing, but also a little bit of a curse. Right, right.

But with Korea, they played so many friendlies. They played in so many tournaments. We didn't even played at the Gold Cup during that cycle. Is that right? I didn't. Yeah, we played at the Gold Cup. We played the U.S. y'all beat us

I believe Landon Donovan scored at the last minute and you guys beat us at the Rose Bowl but by the time we got to the World Cup it was a really strong team probably the most cohesive team at that tournament and the way we were pressing the opposition I mean I'm still anybody who watched that tournament

probably remembers the way we played at that tournament I remember the energy that Korea played with yeah yeah and then you add to that the energy from the stands from the fans it was just overwhelming So yeah, it was a different kind of team. I don't think this team can replicate that kind of performance, to be honest, because the way we prepared for that tournament was completely different from it.

Because right now what we're trying to do is we've got all these star players. We're trying to put them together to create a strong team. Whereas back then, yeah, we had strong players, but they weren't Premier League players. They weren't Champions League players. But they were the best players in Korea. Gus Hiddink had a year to really, really drill them and to really create a cohesive, cohesive team, we're going to have a different team for the next year's World Cup. It's going to be a completely different dynamic.

So, like, we'll probably never get to replicate that same, same, you know, same situation again. So it'll be a little bit different this time around. But how did it change the culture that run, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I talked about the pitch crisis, which is unfortunate, but, I mean, just the facilities that the World Cup was able to build.

because we've never had a soccer-specific stadium in Korea prior to that World Cup. I mean, we have, but not international standard ones. You know what I mean? And just the fact that kids growing up, all the players that you see play for Korea right now, I mean, these guys were born in the middle of the 90s, early 2000s, but most of the players that were born in the 90s, they grew up on this tournament.

They were inspired by 2002. We call them the World Cup kids. That's the term that we use in Korea. these players were like we have a bunch of players in Korea right now in the national team who were born in 1996 so they were six years old when Korea went to the semifinals of that World Cup at home we called them the World Cup kids because they started to play soccer after that tournament in the facilities that were built because of that World Cup

you know what I mean so without that World Cup none of this happens Sun Meng does not happen without that World Cup yeah interesting okay so what would be a successful World World Cup for you next summer. The coach made it very clear. He said that his goal is to reach the quarterfinal because that's something that Korea has never accomplished

outside of Korea. But seeing how this is an expanded World Cup, we kind of don't know what we're going to get. To be honest, I don't think anybody knows really what to expect in the first, first round. If Korea can win a couple of games, regardless of how far they get, and if they can get to the knockout stage,

I would consider that maybe not success, But I would consider that an acceptable result if they can get to the last 16 of the tournament I would consider that a moderate success Anything beyond that would be an incredible success story for Korea because I mean even from a Korean standpoint when you go if you go to the world cup and you face a team like Honduras Let's just as an example Large majority of fans will probably assume that's going to be a win for Korea you know what I mean But as you guys They can make it they can make it tricky teams man. Yeah, these are tricky teams and

And, you know, let's say Korea goes to the World Cup plays a team like South Africa or something. It's going to be a tough game, man. None of these games will be easy wins. Exactly. Yeah. So we've seen the massive – well, no, let's talk about Cleansman a little bit. So why wasn't he able to get those players organized in the way – all these excellent players organized in a way that was going to move them forward?

Probably for the similar reasons as why he didn't exactly work out. with the U.S., but Korea probably had the worst version of him, to be honest, because when Klinsman started to lead the U.S. M&T, he was still a little fresh off of his success with Germany. He was still fresh off of his time with Bayern Munich. So there was that excitement and curiosity, you know what I mean? But since day one, when Klinsman landed in Korea, there was negativity. So it was, he was already fighting a losing battle. And then just the fact that, I mean, from a cultural standpoint. Why was there negativity on day one?

I mean, because we know his history. You know what I mean? We know his history with the U.S., we know his history with Bayern Munich. We know his history with, you know, Hertha Berlin, what happened there. But even then, you know, let's be honest, Klinsman did have some good moments with the U.S.,

and he did have some good moments with Germany as well. So there was a small community of people who were hopeful as well. don't get me wrong, but just the fact that, you know, from a cultural standpoint, any kind of remote work in Korea is really frowned upon. You know, it's not like the U.S. where working remotely, you know, depending on what you do is acceptable, things don't really work that way in Korea. So when you have a national team head coach flying in and out of the country, you know,

spending his time in Southern California with his family one day, and then all of a sudden he's attending a UFA conference that has nothing to do with, you know, being a Korea head coach. These kind of things will rub Korean people the wrong way, whether or not these are all valid things that Klinsman may be doing for Korea. You know, who knows what he's really doing, you know? So, you know, when you have a coach

who's doing all these things that previous coaches have never done, the perception of him is only going to go bad. So that trust was never there. And when you don't have public trust in Korea as the national team head coach, it's going to be hard for you because it's not like the results were there either. You know, Grinigan knocked out of the semifinal at the Asian Cup and they lost to Jordan. If they lost to Iran, you know, at the Asian Cup semifinal,

I think a lot of people would have been, would have accepted that result, to be honest, because we lose to a team that's, you know, at least as good as us. You know what I mean? But to go to the tournament, to face Jordan twice, once in group stage and once in semifinal, and then you can't beat them in the group stage and you face them again in the semifinal, and you lose two nil. And then later on, all these stories come out how there was a brawl, you know, how there was an internal conflict, you know, amongst the players,

you know, it may be unfair to Clemsman, but the story was that, I mean, the conclusion for a lot of people was that Clemsman failed to control this team the way he needed to. And maybe didn't care. Maybe didn't care enough. Exactly. And once that was sort of like the understanding amongst the public in Korea, he was only fighting a losing battle in his days for just number.

He didn't candle it differently, I guess. He moved to Korea when he was coaching. It was very weird. He first went to Korea for his introductory press conference and said that it would only be normal for him to reside in Korea. That's the word that he used. But like, it just never happened. He kept traveling in and out of Korea. I mean, maybe he did it for all the valid reasons, but neither the KFA nor Cleansman really explained the purpose of his.

his travels. And maybe he felt that he didn't need to. But that was always the point of controversy in Korea. And it just never, he was never able to convince the people that all those things that he was doing was something that he needed to do. And, you know, after a year, he was out. So, and then you interviewed him seven months ago.

How did you, how did you make that happen? Yeah, no, it was, that was an interesting one because prior to that interview, I interviewed the assistant coach for Korea during the 2002, I mean, 2020 World Cup, the Portuguese assistant coach under Palo Bento's name is Sergei Costa. So I honestly uploaded that interview on our YouTube channel. And I didn't really have specific plans to do any more interviews other than that. I just had to make that particular interview available because I wasn't doing it for any publication. I literally did it as a hobby, to be honest, because it was something that I always wanted to do.

And then, you know, an acquaintance of mine got in touch and he was like, are you going to build on this? Like, are you going to do any more interviews? I was like, I don't know. And he was like, oh, like, I know Klinsman, because he worked with them in Korea when they, when they were, when Clisman was working there. I was like, would you like to interview him? So why wouldn't I? Let's do it. So that's what really got the ball rolling.

So ever since we interviewed Cleansman, you know, one thing led to another and we got, you know, Maya Yoshita on there. You know, we recently had, you know, Paulo, Palo Bentow on there. So things just kind of kept going and going. Fantastic. Yeah. And I guess being in Southern California, it is. Being in Southern California is, it seems like a good place for a lot of these guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Got any plans to get sunny? That's, I mean, I don't know if it's a plan, but that's the goal. So yeah, yeah, fingers are crossed. Let's see what happens. Okay, all right. Good luck to you. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. What was your take on? I've praised you for the Clemsman interview, and I think it was great the way you pushed him on. Thank you. Thank you. Some of it was, some of it will not be that, some of it will not be that relevant to like a U.S. fan because there's a lot about the internal Korean KFA stuff and, and his U-20

coach who was his assistant. But what was your take on it? Did you feel like you understood anything better about his tenure after the interview? Yeah. I do think he has a valid point when it comes, because you hear the part where he said, you knew all these things about me. You knew the way I worked. You knew that I liked traveling.

You knew I wanted to do all these things. Knowing all of that, you still hired me. So if you hired me knowing all of that and you're going to have problems later, why did you hire me? I think that part is a very valid question. Yeah. Because like I said, the public perception from day one, even before day one, was very negative because we all knew this. So if that was really going to be a problem, you know, from the standpoint of the KFA,

if you knew that was going to be an issue, why did you still go ahead and make that decision? You know what I mean? So that's the puzzling part in all of this. And maybe that's what leads into the whole question about was it a joke to like, was it like all done on a lark? Right. Which came from the Der Spiegel article, right? Or at least how it was interpreted in the Korean press. Yeah, and it certainly seemed that way, which is why I asked them.

You know what I mean? but it's also weird because the KFA president, Zheng Mengyu, who I believe visits the U.S. quite often for his business, he's someone who understands how the public, you know, the media dynamic and the public reaction. He's someone who understands how all of this works. He's been getting burned for about 20 years now. And for him to make a decision like this that just completely takes them to the extreme.

Like, yeah, that's the puzzling part in all of this. I mean, the way Klinsman kind of operated in Korea, I don't think it's a surprise to that many people. But the way that a lot of these decision makers in Korea, the fact that they knew all this and still went ahead and made this decision and sat on it the way they did, that's sort of like the infuriating part in all of this. He's a charmer. And he

About that Yeah Real nice guy man Yeah So like he comes across Very friendly And yeah And also

What a player he was I mean I think that That still plays into it Yeah Yeah Can you give us a likely 11 for Saturday's game From a Korean perspective

Where the goals Where the goals are likely to come For you guys And I say you guys For Korea And Where they might be given up

from a Korean perspective? I think the likely source for goal is the obvious player, Sunny. Especially because ever since Hong Myeongbo has become the head coach, it's not that Sunny's goal scoring rate has gone up considerably, but it's just that the way he's been using him, at least in the AFC qualifying, because the way Yergen-Kinsman deployed these guys, he would have Sonny and I-Gang-in,

you know, just on the same wavelength, as far up the pitch as possible, just getting the ball in the final third and trying to attack. But what he's trying, what Hong Myeongbo is trying to do is it's a little bit more of a lopsided shape where I-Gang in on the right wing drops deeper. Okay. So, Sondon, Min, making his typical runs in behind. So if that goes according to plan, because I don't think the U.S. will play too defensively against Korea.

Probably not, no. And if Sonny can, if it's a situation where Sonny can make his trademark runs in behind, I would imagine the U.S. defense would struggle to keep up with his pace. I think that's sort of like the number one weapon that Korea has to score against using I Gongin as a decoy and using Sunning Min as a player who can really get on the end of those final passes, I think will be the, will be sort of like the primary attacking. kind of way for for korea okay so we got we got sanna left wing probably eogging at right wing and then uh give us the rest of the 11 the likely 11 i think in central midfield you're likely to see a player who many korean fans don't like but he's uh his name is bag yung who's plays in the middle east uh defensive midfielder slow footed good on the ball but defensively he's been a liability, but it's highly likely that he will be at the back of the midfield for

Korea. Okay. Who plays alongside him is the mystery for now because, um, Huang and Bum is injured. And, you know, Huang and Bum is obviously the one of the stars of the team when available. And to not have him is going to be a big, big miss for Korea. Um, a player by the name of Somiunu, a Kuan FC midfielder who's only played domestically has replaced him in the squad. I don't know if he's going to play in that position.

I don't think it'll be him. I think it's highly likely that Kim Jong-gu will play in that position. He's a player for Jumbuk Hyundai, the best team in the K-League this season, and he's probably the best central midfielder for Korea in the K-League this year. So I would imagine it'll be him who will play alongside Parkyengu, which would, yeah, that would be a highly under-strength midfield tandem for Korea. Without Huangenbaum, I just feel like, that solidity that Korea had in midfield will not be there.

So that's definitely something that the U.S. can take advantage of, I feel like. Okay. Let me ask before we go on it. So you said that is Chambuq, is how you say the team? Jambu K-K-Khanda, yeah. They're the best club in the, is that the, if you're going to go to Korea and see a K-League game, is that the stadium you go to? That's the team.

That's the team. Because Gus Poyett is managing that team this season. And they've actually been the best team in Korea for a long time. but the last two, three years, it's been pretty ugly for them. But Gus Poit, the former Sunderland manager, he landed in Jambuq this year, and he's completely transformed that team, and they are going to win the league. They've already ran away with it. So, yeah, that's the team to watch if you're in Korea.

And Jambuuk is, like, north of Seoul, or is it, like, in the Seoul area? It's south of Seoul. It's like in the central region of South Korea. Okay, all right. Yeah. All right. I interrupted your lineup. Please continue.

All good, man. Stryker, I feel like it'll be O'Hunggiu, who plays for Gank in Belgium. He actually, it's interesting with him because he just took his physical to move to Stuttgart this summer, like a couple days ago, but he failed his physical. So I don't know what's going on there. But, I mean, he's healthy. He's been playing. So I would imagine he's going to be the one playing. If not him, it'll probably be O Sehun, who's a.

real lanky, tall player, but I feel like it's going to be O'Hung-Gue playing as striker for Korea. So up front, O'Hiongiu in the center, to his left will probably be sunny. To his right, I would imagine, will be Igang in. In midfield, like I said, Park Yongu, Kim Jingyu,

and it's possible that Yen's Castro plays. To what? So which one of those is going to be the 10? So without Hwangianbom, it's kind of hard to tell which position these players will take up.

I feel like Pejino at Stoke City might come in as the left winger moving Sonung Min to the central striker position and Hong Myeongbo tinkering with the lineup that way maybe.

I see. So I think Pejuno will be the additional attacking player who will play if they do go with the number 10 option there. And then the fullback

position at right back it'll be Seriongu, the player that I mentioned and at left back it'll be I Tesok, highly likely it'll be I Tezok who recently moved to Austria, Vian from from F.C. So, from Polang Steelers. It'll likely be him and in the center

of the defense will definitely be Kiminje at the Bayern Munich defender and his partner, this should be an interesting one. I would think will be I Hanbaum, who plays for Mittenland in Denmark. Okay.

Because some of the players that have been getting called did not get selected this time. So I feel like it'll be him. And in goal, it'll highly likely be Jojianu. You all probably remember him from the Germany game in 2018.

He made some miraculous saves in that game. But it could possibly it could be Kim Sung-Kyu because Kim Sung-Zung-Gu was a starting goalkeeper at the 2020 World Cup. But he's coming off of a torn ACL injury and he's just returning.

So I think it'll be Joe. Okay. All right, man. That centerback partner that you were talking about. He Han Bum. One cap. So he's got something to prove. Right.

And the players who've usually been getting called are Cho Yumin, who has not been selected for this camp. And another player is Kuan, I believe, is injured in Korea right now. So that's why he, but Iambam is the next up-and-coming big centerback for Korea. And he's been struggling for playing time in Denmark for the last. a year, year and a half or so, but he's starting to play a little bit more recently, and he's done well also, and he's somebody that Hong Myeongbo also likes. So even when he wasn't playing a whole lot, there were times when he used to, he'd get

called into the camp. So if I have to pick one player who's likely to play alongside Kim Minjay in defense, I think it'll be him. Okay. It don't always have to be playing well for your club to play well for the national team. I think so, too. Yeah, yeah. Right, yeah.

So you said you're born in L.A., right? I was born in Korea. Okay. Grew up. I mean, I grew up in L.A., but I did. I mean, I grew up in Korea, too, but I went to school. I did all my school in L.A. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. Went to college there as well. Do you root for the U.S. as a distant second or not really? Not really. You know, like, kind of hesitant to answer this question, to be honest. But when it comes to this sport, when it comes to this game, I'm really Korean through it through. Okay.

But me as a person, as Steve Hahn, I'm as American as any of you guys. Diehard Laker fan. Yeah. Diehard Dodger fan. But it's just weird, man. When it comes to this sport, I don't know why. I don't know why it is. I don't know why it's that way.

But when it comes to this sport, I'm Korean through and through. There's only one team. I respect it. I respect it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. your time.

Thank you. Thanks for having me. I really enjoyed this. I'm going to put the link to his YouTube channel in the show notes and anything else he tells me to put in there. And thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.