DAEJEON, South Korea, 21 June — Ahn Jung-hwan has vowed to find a “better” team and championship after being sacked by Italian side Perugia within hours of scoring the winning goal for South Korea against Italy at the World Cup.
The sacking has also enraged Asian and South Korean soccer chiefs with Asian Football Association General Secretary Peter Velappan calling yesterday for a boycott of Perugia.
South Korea’s national team coach Guus Hiddink said the Perugia president had been “childish” for blaming Ahn for Italy’s defeat in the World Cup second round — one of the great upsets in the tournament’s history.
Ahn, a pin-up hero who has become known as the “Lord of the Rings” because of the way he kisses his ring after scoring has not directly commented on Perugia’s decision not to renew his contract which ends on July 1.
But he said: “I will do my best to play for a better league and for a better team.”
Comments by Perugia president Luciano Gaucci about Ahn have set off a global soccer controversy.
“Ahn will never play for Perugia again,” said an enraged Gaucci who blamed his South Korean striker for Italy’s defeat on Monday night.
“What did you expect me to do? That I would keep a player who ruined Italian football. He should have shown his talent while he was with us. He’ll just have to go back to Korea and earn 100,000 lire (about $48) a month.
“I am not extending his contract, he does not merit it,” Gaucci said. “When he arrived, he was like a little lost goat who didn’t even have the money to buy a sandwich. He became rich without doing anything exceptional and then, at the World Cup, he denigrated Italian football.
Incensed Asian football chief Velappan proposed an Asian boycott of the Italian club in support of Ahn.
Velappan told the Singapore newspaper Today that he had asked Asia’s World Cup finalists China, South Korea and Japan to avoid Perugia.
“I have warned soccer officials in China, Korea and Japan not to send players to Perugia, because all they are interested in is making money from merchandising these Asian players,” Velappan said. “Anyway, who the hell cares about Perugia?”
Velappan accused Gaucci of poor sportsmanship.
“What he has said is in very bad taste. Italy should be a good loser. They are being bad sports.
“They were beaten by the better team and they should accept it. Why take it out on Ahn.”
FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said the international governing body would not get involved as it was between the player and the club.
But South Korea’s coach Hiddink led protests from Ahn’s home country.
“If Gaucci said that it was childish,” said Hiddink after the Korean team trained yesterday, two days before their quarterfinal against Spain.
“Sport is basically a fight between countries. If Gaucci said that does it mean Ahn should not have scored a goal? In a word this is ‘ridiculous’.”
Hiddink added: “As a player Ahn has responsibilities to be loyal to both the national team and the club he belongs to. He will make a choice for himself after doing his best until the end of this tournament.”
Hiddink had been a past critic of Ahn but played a key role in making the striker a World Cup hero.
He fiercely criticized the striker, when he turned up to training camp a few months ago, for being unfit and unable to last more than 45 minutes.
Ahn knucked under at training to earn his place and when Hiddink introduced him as a substitute against the United States in group play he repaid the coach with a headed equalizer.
Hiddink started Ahn in the matches against Portugal and Italy and the striker redeemed himself with the winning goal after missing a fourth-minute penalty against Italy.
“I thank Guus Hiddink for not taking me off the pitch toward the end of the Italy match, for believing in my ability,” said Ahn. “If he had taken me off I would have regretted the evening for the rest of my life.” He added that he had been “heartbroken” after missing the penalty.
