Former Tottenham Hotspur and PSV Eindhoven star Lee Young-pyo on Thursday told AFP that South Korea's Asian Cup would be considered a "failure" if they don't reach the semi-finals.
The retired full-back, who is one of South Korea’s most capped players of all time, said the squad were under pressure to perform after a disappointing World Cup in Brazil last summer.
“We have to get to the semi-final,” said Lee, who also played for Borussia Dortmund in a glittering career which saw him make 127 appearances for his country.
“(South) Korea are one of the best teams in Asia,” the 37-year-old added. “We have enough ability to reach the semi-finals. After the semi-finals nobody knows what is going to happen.
“If we don’t get to the semi-finals then we would have definitely failed. It would be very disappointing,” said Lee, who is commentating on the tournament for Korean TV.
The 1956 and 1960 winners are looking to end 55 years of disappointment at the Asian Cup – and avoid being pelted with toffee when they return to Seoul.
Angry fans hurled toffees at South Korea’s players when the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists returned winless from last year’s edition in Brazil. “Go eat a toffee!” is a highly charged Korean insult.
“I think the players are under a bit of pressure because the World Cup wasn’t good,” said Lee. “They know they need to perform well at this tournament.
“This is one of the widest-open Asian Cups ever. It is going to be very difficult to predict. The level between the likes of Japan, South Korea and Australia is very tight.
“So if we can just get to the semi-finals, after that nobody knows what is going to happen.”
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
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Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
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Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)
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Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
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What is a virtual bank?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
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