Men From The Land Of Zen
Far East Rulers
The AFC (Asian Football Confederation) is FIFA's if not largest terrtiory one of the largest in terms of land mass. It streches from the Middle East ironicaly in the west to most recently Australia in the south east. Climaticaly, culturaly and ethinicaly it has to be the most diverse. To the frigid Mongolian steps in Eurasia to the monsoon driven plains of India the region offers variety that no other region can match but what of its football? Surely a region that holds a third of the world's population and the worlds two most populous nations in China and India can produce gems to that can illuminate the green. There is such a place on the Dragon's back but one must travel to the most eastern part.
The far east of Asia has been the flagship of the AFC for a countless amount of years now. The nations that would fall under this umbrella are China PR, Hong Kong, Guam, Japan,Taiwan, Korea DPR (North Korea), Korea Republic (South Korea), Macau and Monogolia. Why is this reason so dominant in Asia but yet only deem as a third tier region in terms of the footballing production line. We must look firmly at the nations in this cluster that are the standard bearers for the region. Undoubtly Japan and South Korea are the two marquee teams with China and North Korea either stalled in China's case or on a upward surge with regard to the latter.The common factor in the far east barring Guam who is a US depedency and Mongolia whose traditional ways prohibits process industrialization. Thus this region holds true to that saying "To far east is west," this part of Asia rivals North America and Western Europe in terms of most living requirements, North Korea being a bit special.
So what of the football, with being one of the most prosperous regions in the world surely it is on the right path in terms of producing top players. Lets take a look at the those four nations. The Empire of Japan is the greatest Asian team in my opinion,they are the highest rank 36th in the world they have best league structure out of the quartet and has produce wonderful players like "the Shogun," Hitdetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono, Junichi Inamoto and more recently the free kick Furhur Shunsuke Nakamura and Tadanari Lee the young man in the picture and are a World Cup staple. Simply but Japan is great. There nearest rivals in terms geography China are 98th in the world and given there size and population density have not really produce much apart from Sun JiHai and Zheng Zhi I am very hard press to find others of note and the nation itself only made one World Cup appearance coming in 2002.North Korea is not any better either they are 106th in the world and their history is shrouded in mystery but their brothers to the south more than make up the swagger ranked 48th the "White Tigers," have seven WC campaigns to their name and boost players like Lee Young Pyo, Seol Ki- Hyeon and the tireless Park Ji-Sung.
Although football is the world's game culturaly especialy in this region glory is personified in other genres of society. Here Martial Arts and Coporate success are kings, Karate Japan, Wushu China and its outlying states, Tae Kwon Do North and South Korea these are their national sports. Sure David Beckham coming over and Manchester United will have every asian fan boy or girl teary eyed for a second but national sporting heroes like Bruce Lee for Hong Kong is what is idolize. What do I think is needed to unearth gems from this land I honestly don't know I don't think nothing can be done but leave be they have the steps in place already, if Japan is the king of the east in football why is it that football plays third fidel to martial arts and baseball and if that is the case why should we even ask for more from the east. I leave you with this when I was younger I wanted to be a footballer but my aunt told me no and to try to be a cricketer, I asked why and she said "Out here Football can't make you famous." Maybe this truth holds true for this part of the world.
Reptile
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