Yoo Sang-chul: A legend of Korean and Asian football

 

An Incheon United supporter sheds tears at the memorial alter for the late Yoo Sang-chul at Incheon Football Stadium, June 8. / Yonhap

By John Duerden

I remember trying to interview Yoo Sang-chul after 먹튀검증 Korea's opening game of the 2002 World Cup against Poland down in Busan. It was impossible, however. There were just too many people around the midfielder and rightly so ― he had become a legend.

He passed away last Monday at the age of 49 after losing a battle with pancreatic cancer. Tributes poured in from former team-mates and former coaches, such as Guus Hiddink, the man who led the Taeguk Warriors to the semifinals during that steamy summer.

"You were for me and for the team a big inspiration in the time I had the privilege to work with such a tremendous character," Hiddink wrote last week. "You were a true hero to me and to your nation Korea. Now you leave us but the memories we shared together, your smile and joy will live among us."

Yoo played 124 times for his country, scoring 18 goals. He played in various positions ― usually midfield ― but the fact that he was comfortable pretty much anywhere on the field shows what a great player he was.

He scored the second goal, referred to as the "insurance goal" by commentators, in that first game against Poland. That 2-0 win was the country's first victory at the World Cup in what was a sixth appearance on the global stage. In the build-up to the tournament there was real anxiety that the country would host the World Cup but would be the first not to get out of the group.?What would have been worse was Korea falling at the first hurdle and, at the same time, watching co-host and rival Japan getting through to the knockout stages.

Yoo played a big part in averting that ― and it didn't even come close to happening. His goal against Poland resulted in an outpouring of relief as much as joy. It said that the country's worst fears would not come to pass and from that moment, all knew that there was going to be no humiliation or embarrassment. In the end however, there was glory.

But there was more. Yoo won two league titles in Korea with Ulsan Horangi and went to Japan to win two more with Yokohama F.Marinos. Before that there was interest from Barcelona but that was a time when Asian players did not go to Spain.

After his retirement as a player in 2005, I had coffee with him in Frankfurt ahead of Korea's opening game of the 2006 World Cup with the country's fans already making noise inside and outside the stadium. He was then working as a pundit with Korean television and while there was some envy about those players who were about to take the field against Togo, he was excited about the coming tournament.

In 2011, he started his coaching career with Daejeon Citizen, the team which played at the stadium where Korea defeated Italy 2-1 on an unforgettable June night in 2002. In May 2019, he took over Incheon United, a team that was looking odds-on for relegation. He led the Blues to safety but before the end of the season he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On Monday, the disease claimed the life of one of the best players, not just in Korean football history, but in the history of the game in Asia.