South Korea
The 2002 World Cup was a great event for South Korea. With Guus Hiddink at the helm they reached the semi-finals on their home soil with victories over Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain, before being beaten 1-0 by Germany.
It was by far the best performance by South Korea, although they do have a footballing pedigree with the 2006 World Cup being their sixth successive finals.
South Korea World Cup profile continues below
The South Koreans' qualification for the 2006 World Cup finals was not without pitfalls.
Early on, they had a 0-0 draw against the Maldives and the Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho, who had taken over from Hiddink saw himself turned into a double Dutch sandwich as he in turn was replaced by Jo Bonfrere.
South Korea ended up qualifying through their second place in their group behind Saudi Arabia.
One of South Korea's stars is Manchester United's Park Ji-Sung. Also of note is Ahn Jung-Hwan, whose 2002 golden goal defeated Italy, and straightaway he found himself ditched by Serie A club Perugia!
August of last year saw yet another change in South Korea's management with Bonfrere resigning and being replaced as coach by another Dutchman, Dick Advocaat.
South Korea got off to a winning start in the tournament beating Togo 2-1. They followed up with a 1-1 draw against France with Park Ji-Sung getting South Korea's equaliser.
In the end they were unlucky not to qualify, losing their last group match to Switzerland 2-0 and so finishing just one point behind France.
South Korea Squad:
Player Club Position Caps Goals
Kim Yong-Dae Busan I.Park G 15 0
Kim Young-Keun Chunnam Dragons G 5 0
Lee Woon-Jae Suwon Samsung G 95 0
Choi Jin-Cheul Chonbuk Hyundai D 61 4
Kim Dong-Jin FC Seoul D 33 2
Kim Jin-Kyu D 21 3
Kim Sang-Sik Seongnam D 40 2
Kim Young-Chul Seongnam D 9 1
Y Lee Tottenham D 82 5
Song Chong-Gug Suwon Samsung D 50 3
Won Hee Cho Suwon Samsung D 13 1
Ahn Jung-Hwan MSV Duisburg M 59 16
Ji Hoon Baek FC Seoul M 11 0
Kim Do-Hoon Seongnam M 31 5
Kim Nam-Il Suwon Samsung M 64 2
Lee Chun-Soo Ulsan Tigers M 52 5
Lee Eul-Young Trabzonspor M 45 2
Lee Ho Ulsan Tigers M 10 0
J Park Man Utd M 59 5
Cho Jae-Jin Shimizu S-Pulse F 19 5
Chung Kyung Ho Sangmoo F 39 5
Park Chu-Young FC Seoul F 17 5
Seol Wolves F 65 13
