Lee Chun-soo’s World Cup Stories

The 2002 World Cup was the first played in South Korea. Few expected Guus Hiddink’s team to do much more than claim its first win at the tournament. It finished the group stage with two wins and a draw.

South Korea came from behind to beat Italy in extra time and defeated Spain on penalties. It lost to Germany in the semifinal, further than many of us had thought it could go.

Hosting was already a reason to pay attention. The results turned watching a match into something people wanted to do together.

Lee Chun-soo emerges in 2002

The tournament introduced or reintroduced a generation of players to Korean fans. Among them were Ahn Jung-hwan, Park Ji-sung, Kim Nam-il, Song Chong-gug, and Lee Chun-soo.

As the team drew crowds, individual players came under a kind of attention they had rarely experienced before.

Lee, one of the youngest players in the squad, became known for moments that drew argument as well as applause. One was a kick that struck Paolo Maldini in the head in the match against Italy.

The 2002 World Cup from Lee’s point of view

The book is entirely about the tournament. It offers a view from a player who was young enough to be experiencing much of it for the first time.

Lee spends time describing the incident with Maldini and how he remembers what led up to it.

Lee says he felt some of the Italian players were using rough challenges to unsettle their opponents. That is his account of how the match felt from the field.

He came on as a substitute and later contested the ball near the Italian goal, where his foot struck Maldini’s head. Lee describes the kick in the book as deliberate.

He says he was angry at the rough play and meant the kick as a warning.

Seol Ki-hyeon equalized and took the match to extra time. Ahn Jung-hwan then scored the golden goal. The victory also left Ahn in an awkward position at his Italian club, Perugia, whose president publicly criticized him.

The Ohno celebration

After scoring against the United States, Ahn imitated a speed skater. It was a reference to Kim Dong-sung’s disqualification in a short-track race at the 2002 Winter Olympics, after which Apolo Anton Ohno was awarded gold.

Ahn mimed skating while Lee acted out a startled reaction. The book looks back at a celebration that became an argument of its own.

The confidence Lee brought onto the pitch

Lee often looked remarkably sure of himself on the field. I also remember him lying on the grass in tears after South Korea failed to advance from its group in 2006.

He cared about football and had the talent to play at that level. Other parts of his career damaged his reputation, including an offensive gesture toward a referee during a K League match.

The reputation that followed him

Arguments over his conduct sometimes drew more attention than the football. He was often described as the game’s bad boy.

After retiring, Lee found a new audience through appearances on the YouTube channel Shoot for Love. The format gave some former fans a reason to take another look.

The directness that once drew complaints could come across as candor in a longer conversation.

A second public career after football

Lee’s move to Spain had suggested that he might make a place for himself overseas. He never quite reproduced the promise of that move.

After retirement, his own YouTube work and appearances elsewhere gave him another way to revisit stories from 2002, including the segment asking Hong Myung-bo to come and eat.

The book takes me back to when those stories were new and the players were only beginning to find out how much the tournament would follow them.

Book details

Lee Chun-soo’s World Cup Stories

Author

Lee Chun-soo

Published

August 31, 2002

ISBN13

9788955240818

View the book on YES24

We may earn a commission if you buy through an affiliate link in this article.