Park Ji-Sung: top Asian football player
Without a doubt.
He joined Manchester United, one of the world’s top football clubs, in July 2005. As at the time of writing this, he has played for the team more than 90 times and scored 10 goals.
The 5’9″ dynamite winger/attacking midfielder’s achievements include:
- first Asian to ever captain Manchester United. Happened when captain Ryan Giggs passed the armband to him when he was substituted in a game against Lille OSC.
- captain of South Korea since October 2008.
- first Asian to play and win the Champions League, when he was named in the starting line-up against Barcelona in the 2009 final. In the 2007 final against Chelsea, he was left out of the squad.
- first Korean to win the Premier League (is he also the first Asian to win the Premier League?)
- first Asian to to win the Fifa Club World Cup
- was in the South Korean 2002 World Cup team as a 21-year old, where he scored a memorable match-winning goal against Portugal in the group stages. He controlled the ball with his chest, beat Sérgio Conceição then volleyed, with his left foot, through the legs of goalie Vitor Baia and into goal. That goal knocked favoured Portugal out of the tournament. Ultimately South Korea got as far as the semifinals, the best ever achievement by an Asian team at a World Cup.
- was in the South Korean 2006 World Cup team, when he scored the equaliser in the group match against eventual finalists France and was voted Man of the Match.
- is in the South Korean 2010 World Cup team, where he is the top scorer in their qualifying campaign. The team advanced to the finals without any defeats.
He has raised the bar much higher than previous Asian greats like Saeed Owairan (in 1994, scored one of the greatest goals in a World Cup, which earned him the title “The Maradona of the Arabs”), Khodadad Azizi, Ali Daei (the world’s all-time leading goalscorer in international matches), Hidetoshi Nakata, Majed “Desert Pele” Abdullah (the best football player in the history of Saudi Arabia), Kunishige Kamamoto, Kazuyoshi Miura (first Japanese recipient of the Asian Player of the Year award in 1993, first Japanese football superstar) and Cha Bum-Kun (Asia’s Player of the Century, all time leading goal scorer for the South Korean National team).
Whew, I’ve finished talking – and I’m announcing defeat – no matter how many times I’m reincarnated, I’ll never top Park’s achievement, and we know now all his footballing achievement. But life is more than football, perhaps I’d like to start by getting tips from him on how to treat acne!
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but sir.. Manchester United lost the 2009 Champions League final, 0-2 to Barcelona!!! Scorer – Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi… but Park Ji Sung salary is maybe around 40,000 pound sterling per month??
Probably around that, which works out to around RM1 million a month: the best-paid Asian footballer in the world. Apparently he is NOT the highest-paid Korean athlete – that title goes to Park Chan Ho, professional baseball player.
if the timing is right, with the proper diet, coach and exposure… i think Kiulu’s own soccer prodigy – Mr Jounis Kumpit @ Dunik should be playing for Portsmouth in the English Premier League and commanding a salary of at least 20,000 pound sterling per month!!!!
I think it’s more than 20 years too late for that!