Asian siccer playrs-can they adapt
Japanese and Korean soccer players are certainly good enough to play in the top European leagues. The question,thoug, that European soccer teams need to ask is, 'Can Janpanese and Korean players adapt to life in the weat?' Moreand Asian soccer players are playing for teams to feel at home and enjoy their new lives.
Many of the best Asian soccer players have the ambition to playin Europe. Ji-sung Park,one of Korean's most popolar sportsmen,is with Manchester United in English Premiership and Jung-hwan Ahn is with MSV Duisburg in Germany. Japanese national team, played for seven seasins in Italy and for a year in England.
Whan Asian players arrive in Europe, they have to learn a new language and get used to very different food. However,the hardest thing to adapt to is the way players communicate with each other and with the coach. In Korea and Japan, players don't complain if their teammates play badly, and they never tell the coach they are unhappy about tactics. In Europe, it is usual for players to say what they think.
Ji-sung Park lenrned about the importance of communication in one of his early games for Manchester United. Late in the match he came on as a substitute for Ryan Giggs,who was the captain that night. Giggs passed the captain's armband to Park and wanted him to give in to another player,Rio Ferdinand. Park didn't understand and he put the armband on. He played for the last 7minutes as the captain. The next day all the Korean newspapers wanted Park to tell them what it was like to be the captain of Manchester United.