United aim to light up the Luzhniki with South Korean energy

Park Ji Sung's dedication in overcoming culture shock and long-term injury could put a Seoul survivor on top of the European game, writes Steve Tongue in Moscow

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

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GETTY IMAGES

Park Ji Sung trains at the Luzhniki Stadium

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If, as expected, Park Ji Sung is named in Manchester United's team in the Luzhniki Stadium tonight, with Ryan Giggs left among the substitutes, it will be the ultimate tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson's forward planning. This was what United's manager said only a month after paying PSV Eindhoven £4m for Park in the summer of 2005: "Ryan Giggs is now 31, 32 in November. He's been a fantastic servant, for 15 years up and down the touchline, and we really need to think about how we're going to replace him on that side of the pitch."

If Ferguson is surprised that his Welsh winger has gone on long enough to match Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances and score the goal that sealed a 10th league title, the shock for many United followers is that the South Korean who arrived with "JS Park" and the No 13 on his shirt three years ago (like Chelsea's Michael Ballack, he does not have any superstition about it) is now an automatic choice. Most were slow to take to him, and it is fair to say that only his outstanding performances in the two Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona last month convinced many of them that he was worthy to be a successor to the hugely popular Giggs.

The word that Ferguson is apt to employ in discussing Park is "energy". Recently he added: "He is a fantastic professional, who gives 100 per cent. He is dedicated and is a good footballer. He has good intelligence on the field. His movement and running off the ball is very good."

Supporters aware of his two seasons in Europe with PSV may have made too little allowance for the transition to English football, with its breakneck pace and more permissive refereeing, which even the great Dennis Bergkamp admitted took him a year. Park, having appeared in 33 of United's 38 league games during his first Premier League campaign, then suffered serious injuries in the next two, just when he could reasonably have been expected to flourish.

Hardly was the ink dry on an extended contract in August 2006 than he injured ankle ligaments and was out for three months. Last April, knee surgery was required to correct a long-standing problem and it was not until Boxing Day that he returned. So only in 2008 have United seen the best of him.

South Korea may have been aware of that talent for much longer, though it was in Japan that he first made his name after leaving university, with Kyoto Purple Sanga for three seasons, becoming a regular international under his first mentor Guus Hiddink.

The Dutchman made a significant change to Park's game in converting him from an essentially defensive midfielder to a wide attacker, and he blossomed at the 2002 World Cup, becoming one of the national heroes who emerged as a football fever rarely seen anywhere spread from Seoul throughout South Korea. Having already scored the goal that earned a 1-1 draw against Sven Goran Eriksson's England in a friendly before the tournament, he notched the crucial one that beat Portugal, taking the joint hosts beyond the group stage and all the way to a narrow semi-final defeat when they finally ran out of steam against Germany.

When Hiddink, "my master", moved to the Dutch club PSV, he took Park and fellow countryman Lee Young Pyo with him. Although the older Lee excelled at left-back, eventually earning a move to Tottenham, injuries, competition for places with Arjen Robben and Dennis Rommedahl and certain cultural differences held Park back for a while.

His dynamic, running style was in tune with the European game, but the physicality of it surprised him. Polite and quiet, he was not used either to harsh criticism from spectators, team-mates or coaches and admitted: "I didn't adjust very well for a long time because of the different culture and because I was injured, so I couldn't show my ability enough."

Once he began to do so, United's European scouts were among those impressed. On their recommendation, Ferguson made the trip to see an "outstanding" performance against Lyons in the quarter-final of the Champions' League and, when he scored in a 3-1 win over Milan in the semi-final, a place in the final against Liverpool was there for the taking. Instead, Milan snatched it away with a fortunate 2-0 win in the second leg.

Park would come to see plenty of Liverpool anyway, though it seems unlikely that his gradual assimilation of English culture runs to "we hate Scousers". Nor did he quite get the hang of things when in one game Giggs, having been substituted, threw him the armband to pass on; Park naïvely put it on himself, to squeals of delight from the Asian media representatives who follow his every move.

But Chelsea, he does understand, are serious rivals. "I think we have the edge over Chelsea because we are more confident after winning the title," he said. "I had injuries at the start of the season, I came back halfway through and feel I am getting better and better. Now I feel 100 per cent. It is a huge game in South Korea and most people will be watching it live on TV."

Tonight, Seoul expects, and so does Stretford...

Walk in the Park: From Kyoto to Moscow: Ji Sung's statistics

Born: 25 February, 1981, Seoul

Height: 5ft 9in Weight 11st

Club career:

2000-03 Kyoto Purple Sanga

2003-05 PSV Eindhoven

2005 to present Man United

69 caps for S Korea, 8 goals

Honours:

With Kyoto Sanga...

2001 J League Sec Div, J League Best XI