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Park Chu-young debuts for Watford as World Cup talks loom

February 3, 2014

By Kim Tong-hyung

There was a time, not so long ago, when Park Chu-young was regarded as the future of Korean football. Now, the diminished 29-year-old is struggling to prove he should be part of the present.

After struggling in Arsenal for a long time, forward Park Chu-young made his first appearance for Championship club Watford on Monday (KST), which was his first game action in nearly 100 days. Park needs to prove his value to join Korea’s national squad for the upcoming Brazil World Cup.
(Korea Times)

Arriving on a loan from Arsenal, where he had been stuck in Arsene Wenger’s dog house, Park made his first appearance for Championship club Watford on Monday (KST), which was his first game action in nearly 100 days.

Watford, a middling team in the English second-division competition, exists in a different world from top-flight European football where a younger Park once showed flashes of brilliance.

However, Park’s brief appearance in stoppage time of Watford’s 2-0 win over Brighton at home garnered rapt attention from the Korean media as the forward continues to be considered for the country’s World Cup squad for Brazil.

Korea manager Hong Myung-bo, who had coached Park on Korea’s bronze-medal winning team at the London Olympics, has made it a principle not to use players who aren’t getting regular minutes with their clubs. But it remains to be seen whether he can continue to be picky when the national team’s scoring problems have become alarming.

While saying he has decided on most of his roster for the World Cup, Hong admits that the offense is a work in progress.

Park, who has expressed eagerness to play in another World Cup, played about six minutes after the 90th minute whistle against Brighton and managed to appear in the game report by fouling Solly March. Watford is likely to give Park the opportunity to prove he can be more than just a warm body.

“(The move to Watford) is a great opportunity for Park … The quality of football at Championship level is competitive ― I saw this when I saw Lee Chung-yong play for Bolton last season. It would be better for Park to get regular minutes at the second-division club than being sporadically used at a top-division club,’’ Hong told reporters during the national team’s training camp in the United States.

He said that the World Cup audition for Park has just begun.

”Moving to a new team doesn’t solve anything. Park is at the starting point where he can compete with other players (for the World Cup spot) at equal footing. He can only be included in the World Cup squad if he plays well.’’

Hong’s efforts to find new talent in the U.S. session were futile. His team full of fringe players managed just one goal and conceded six in three friendly matches against Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S.

It’s debatable whether Park can make a difference. While it’s clear the world has already seen the best of him, some evaluators argue that Park is still a better option than some other medium talent Hong experimented with.

In his prime, Park showed a nose for the net and an uncanny ability to win balls in the air and hold it up until the support arrives. He also displayed good chemistry with Europe-based players such as Sohn Heung-min, Lee Chung-yong and Ki Sung-yeung, who now form the core of the senior national team.

Park must first prove that he is anywhere close to his prime. He never had a shot to do it with Arsenal, but Watford may prove to be his road toward redemption.