asian footballers..... ( Archived) (9)

where are they? seriously, i've thought about this quite a bit over the years. how come there are no asian football (soccer) players plying their trade in the uk? i know plenty asians (who love football) but none have been able to give me an answer. i refuse to believe that there are none good enough to play in the uk leagues or even the premiership - so where are they???

You must know some of them, who play for Premier league, a chinese in MU, some in Scotland... And do not forget, Australia has become a member of Asian Football Confederation, now they are also representatives of Asia)) Hope soon Uzbek players will represent my country in Premier league))

Mid 90s, I coached a U-19 Select team on a 30 day tour in Europe. We hit most of the good amatuer tournaments that including one in Denmark. There we ran into the Hong Kong U-19 National team in a match. They smoked us 7-1. We had a good side for a US Team.

Problem is to play in the Premier league, you've got to be strong in the air. Both in service and in receiving service. Most Asian players give away 4-7 inches to a most European player. That is lot of size and height. Few consistently can win the 50/50 ball in the air. Also because thier size, they lose some range on the service as well. Not much but some.

Watch out on the ground. They are really good ball handlers. Not the magic of the Brazilians but it is quick and effective in controling ball and the play. But even then size plays against them some. If they play a running counter attack, and it is a couple of steps slower because thier size again. Having said all that.

The Japan A-League is good fotbol. Take in a match sometime if you can. As good as our MSL in most cases. And the South Korean national team is a solid side. But none are in the Premier league quality of play. Watch the Chinese national team this summer in the coming Olympics, my bet is they are really good side. jmo

Japan A-League and Korean K-League are not good enough as mid eastern championships, you can see it by Asian Champions League Results.
But the main weakness of Asian footballers is physical training, though they have a good technique

Again in the 90s, I coached a college team here in the US. It was made up of players from all over the world and here in the US. The coaching problem that comes into play is blending thier different styles of play and different national concepts of the game into a solid team style and concept.

I think that some day you will see excellent Asain players in Europe playing in the leagues there. Just as the teams there have gone to Africa, the Carribean and elsewhere to get players. When they do, they look for that player of excellence or why sign him?

For most Asain players blending thier style of play into the style of play for a solid and well developed European professional team, is going to be hard adapting for both sides. For the excellent Asain player, I can see where it can happen.

That Hong Kong team, we ran into was very well conditioned. Very fit.
So was the South Korean national team this last World Cup. Think that the Chinese National team that plays in the coming Olympics will not be well conditioned? It likely depends greatly on the programs that a player connects with. They vary greatly in thier conditioning and thier training programs around the world today.

I would say you are right on the quality of the leagues. Think that I
did as well. Our MSL keeps going to Europe to get named players (Beckham). In someways, I would like to see them stop it. Getting excellent players from no matter where they are from, is the way to develop the quality of your league play. I am not saying the Beckham is not a quality player. But for the price of a Beckham, you can get....maybe 5-6 quality 'no name players' for a side.....maybe more....if you take out the Spice Girl part of the his contract.:-)

By the way since we talking fotbol here. I like the idea of coownership across the pond by the Culverhouses and such. I know Manchester United fans have placed a ban on traveling to Tampa Bay, FL since he bought the club. But the potential for the sport is increased with such ownership.

It means he can use a MLS side here as a development team for Manchester United. And then turn around when a Manchester United player is showing short in the tooth in playing time there, bring him here to extend his career. It also means that we can some solid international matches again that cross the pond to be played. So I see a lot of win/win to it.

What about Nakamura who plays for Celtic, Ji Sung Park who plays for Manchester United and there is some Koreans playing for Reading and Spurs.

fair enough those are couple of exceptions but where are the pakistanis, the indians, the saudis etc ??

Oh I agree about the pakistanis, the indians, the saudis. In India and Pakistan Cricket t is a very popular sport and very few people play football. Regarding Saudia Arabia there a few good players from there but they mainly stay in the Middle East and it maybe to do with problems getting a work permit.