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Friendly ... Brett Holman and Ki Sung-Yueng tussle but neither will take part on Wednesday. Source: Marwan Naamani / AFP
Australia's Socceroos are looking for change and perhaps it can be found on Wednesday night in Hwaseong's new stadium, 45 minutes or so south of Seoul.
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Maybe the next generation will show, when they step onto the former rice fields converted to a football arena, that there is fertile ground to sustain the nation for years to come. For the Koreans, unsure as what to do with this game in terms of selection, the situation is a little more complex; but then nothing is ever straightforward in the so-called Land of the Morning Calm.
It is Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, that has provided rivalry to the Socceroos in recent years, but a look a little to the west and this bustling nation of 50 million inhabitants, and Australia may find it has a few things in common.
- Eli Babalj
- Aziz Behich
- Alex Broqsue
- James Holland
- Mathew Leckie
- Ryan McGowan
- Matt McKay
- Lucas Neill
- Tommy Oar
- Mathew Ryan
- Adam Sarota
- Michael Thwaite
- Tomas Rogic
- Nikita Rukavystya
- Mark Schwarzer
- Matthew Spiranovic
- Archie Thompson
- Carl Valeri
- Luke Wilkshire.
Both leagues are at something of a crossroads, although the situation in Korea is much more dramatic. The K-League is still recovering from a shocking 2011 match-fixing scandal that implicated over 60 players and coaches, past and present and provoked the suicide of three, probably four, participants.
And that's not all. The recent arrest of one of the ringleaders and former international striker Kim Dong-hyun for an attempted kidnapping and car chase through Seoul was just depressing as were pictures showing the disgraced Choi Sung-kuk, working as a forlorn-looking hospital receptionist, banned from the beautiful game he once played beautifully.
The scandal stung authorities into action. This is the first season that clubs will be relegated, the league has been split into groups of eight, two thirds of the way through the season and clubs are being forced to get their acts together off the pitch.
The long-term plan is that it will help the K-League catch up with its baseball counterpart. While football Down Under plays catch-up with NRL and AFL, over the past four or five years, the K-League has relinquished its position at the top of the domestic tree.
Even baseball can't compete with the national team though perhaps too much emphasis is placed on the World Cup and Olympic Games by the powers-that-be.
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Japan not qualifying for the World Cup would be a massive disappointment but the J-league would dust itself down after a few months and get back on track.
Such an absence would not only be a shock to Seoul, 1982 was the last time the Taeguk Warriors did not make it, it would be a serious blow to the K-League and football in general. Some think it would actually be a good thing and force a real clearout of the well-connected corporate types at KFA House, others are not so sure.
That may be a hypothetical debate at the moment but the growing number of Koreans heading to the Middle East is a genuine issue. Until now, shoulders have been shrugged in the face of 'oil money' but that could change if bigger and younger talents start to make the move. For players, it can be risky with even established internationals losing their places after moving west.
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What has been welcomed is the influx of Australians, most of which have made a positive impact. After the roaring success of Sasa Ognenovski, other clubs wanted Aussie defenders of their own and the likes of Adrian Madaschi and especially Luke De Vere have impressed, and not just in the expected terms of power, leadership and set pieces.
The arrival of Matt McKay marked an important change, the first Aussie not signed because he was big and strong. He has been perhaps the best attacking player with, an admittedly defensive, Busan. His incisiveness, consistency, and versatility have led the local media to start calling him the 'Australian Park Ji-sung' and a move to a bigger club, in Korea or Japan, in the winter is possible.
Park himself is rarely discussed these days in relation to the national team - he retired almost two years ago. The search for his replacement seems less intense after the emergence and/or development and genuinely exciting attacking talent. It is the search for a new defence that is on the mind of Korean coach Choi Kang-hee.
Neither of the full-backs who played in last month's loss in Iran will feature and it could be a new centre-back pairing too with captain Kwak Tae-hwi, fresh from lifting the Asian Champions League trophy, rested rather than dropped.
The English-based trio of Ki Sung-yeung, Kim Bo-kyoung, Lee Chung-young, the Bundesliga's Koo Je-cheol and Son heung-min and Park Chu-young in La Liga have been left with their clubs by coach Choi.
The eternally glum-looking tactician who led Jeonbuk Motors to one Asian title and one final (and who never wanted the Korea job in the first place, refusing the KFA a number of times before they took him out and got a drunken agreement) explained there was little point in having players arriving jetlagged for training on Monday, if they were lucky, for a Wednesday friendly.
Partly because of this and the Australian selection - as well as Ulsan's Asian Champions League win, the upcoming change of president at the Korean FA, various new teams being formed, one team's boycott of the K-League and the first ever relegation battle in the country -the build-up to the friendly has been muted.
