As co-hosts of the tournament, South Korea went on an amazing run. They defeated Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain before losing 1-0 to Germany in the semi-finals. They finished fourth, ahead of many of the traditional powers of world soccer.

Things certainly looked bright for Korean soccer in the summer of 2002 but as qualifying for this year’s World Cup began, the South Korea team that took the field often showed little similarity to the team that had stunned some of Europe’s giants.

A scoreless draw with the tiny Maldive Islands, a draw with Uzbekistan and a 0-1 home loss to Saudi Arabia had fans wondering what happened to their team. They weren’t the only ones who couldn’t figure it out; two different head coaches resigned during qualifying. Despite inconsistent play, the South Koreans did manage to qualify for Germany and current coach Dick Advocaat seems to have pulled the team together.

Attacking midfielder Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United), has been plying his trade in the English Premier League with great success, as has defender Lee Young-Pyo (Tottenham). Pairing with Park up front will most likely be Ahn Jung-Hwan, who plays with German club MSV Duisburg. Experienced goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon Samsung) will likely be wearing the captain’s armband while forwards Seol Ki-Hyeon (Wolverhampton) and veteran midfielder Lee Eul-Yong (Trabzonspor) should also play roles.

South Korea will bring a solid team to Germany but they will be hard-pressed to equal their success of four years ago. Then again, no one expected much of them then, either.