Profile Park Ji Sung

Personal information :

Full name : Park Ji-Sung
Date of birth : 25 February 1981
Place of birth : Goheung County , Jeollanam-do, South Korea
Height : 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position : Midfielder
Current club : Manchester United
Number : 13
Youth career :
1999–2000 Myongji University
Senior career :
2000–2003 Kyoto Purple Sanga
2003–2005 PSV Eindhoven
2005– Manchester United
National team :
1999–2004 Korea Republic U-23
2000– Korea Republic

Career

Early career

Park grew up in Suwon, a satellite city 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Seoul. While in high school, Park was rejected by a number of professional clubs, due to his small stature. He ended up playing for Myongji University after his high school coach strongly recommended him to the university coach. In 2000, after just a year at Myongji University, Kyoto Purple Sanga of Japan offered Park a contract and he took up the offer.

Kyoto Purple Sanga

Park signed with the Japanese club who had just been relegated to J2. In 2001, the club won the Division 2 championships and were promoted to the first division. In 2002, Park led the team to the finals of the Emperor's Cup, and scored the equaliser with a header and assisted Teruaki Kurobe's winning goal in the final match.The team went on to win the match 2–1 to become the Emperor's Cup champions for the first time in Sanga's history. He left Sanga following the World Cup and Sanga's failure to avoid relegation to J2.

PSV Eindhoven

After the World Cup, Guus Hiddink was appointed as manager of Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. In 2003, Park and South Korean teammate Lee Young-Pyo moved to PSV Eindhoven in order to play under their mentor and former national team coach. While Lee quickly became a fixture in PSV Eindhoven's starting lineup, Park struggled due to injuries.

However, by the end of 2003–04 season, Park had begun to adapt to the Netherlands, both on and off the field. In the 2004–05 season, the departure of Arjen Robben to Chelsea afforded Park more starting opportunities and he quickly proved his worth to the team. Along with Johann Vogel, DaMarcus Beasley and Dutchmen Mark van Bommel and Philip Cocu, Park formed the backbone of PSV Eindhoven's midfield play with his pace and passing. Having been a top contributor of goals and assists that season, the highlight of Park's PSV career came when he scored the first goal against Italian team A.C. Milan at the Champions League semi-finals. PSV went on to win the home leg 3–1, but their 2–0 loss during the away leg meant Milan advanced to the Champions League Final. However, thanks to these successful performances, Park was elected as one of UEFA MVP in FW section in 2005 as well as Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Samuel Eto'o, and Ronaldinho. PSV fans were so enamoured with Park that they wrote a song about him, titled "Song for Park", it was included in the PSV official album "PSV Kampioen" and repeats "Ji-Sung Park" in Dutch pronunciation the whole time.

Manchester United

In the closing months of the 2004–05 season, Park chose to join Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. Park signed for the Premier League side for £4 million,subject to a medical and work permit.

Park became the first Asian to ever captain Manchester United when he took the armband from Ryan Giggs as he replaced him during a home Champions League game against Lille on 18 October 2005.His first goal for Manchester United came on 20 December 2005, during a 3–1 win over Birmingham City in the League Cup fifth round. On 5 February 2006, Park appeared to have scored his first Premier League goal, coming against Fulham in United's 4–2 victory at Old Trafford.However the Premier League's Dubious Goals Panel later ruled that this was an "own-goal" due to a deflection off the Fulham defender Carlos Bocanegra. On 9 April 2006, Park scored his first official league goal, netting the second of a 2–0 home win over Arsenal.

In April 2007, Park was sent to America for surgery on a recurring knee injury, putting an end to his season. Although sidelined by injury for most of the season, he still played in enough matches to become the first Korean player to win the Premier League.

On 1 March 2008, Park scored his first Premiership goal of the 2007–08 season after returning from his long-term injury against Fulham. His lack of appearances had caused much controversy in Korea, but he proved his worth when he delivered an assist to Wayne Rooney in the Champions League quarter-final match against Roma. On 29 April 2008, Manchester United advanced to the Champions League Final after beating Barcelona, a game in which Park was voted Man of the Match. On 21 May, it came as a huge surprise to many that Park was excluded completely from the squad to face Chelsea in the Final. Many believed that Park's performances against Roma and Barcelona had earned him a place in the starting line-up for the game. With that omission, Park failed to become the first footballer from Asia to play in a Champions League final, as had widely been anticipated in South Korea. Later, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson stated that leaving the South Korean winger out from the 18-man squad for the Champions League final was one of the hardest decisions he had to make all throughout his managerial career.

Park after a match against Barcelona in April 2008
Early in the 2008–09 Premier League season, in an away match versus Chelsea, Park scored the only goal for United in a 1–1 draw on 21 September 2008, in a game which he also won the Man of the Match award.On 13 December 2008, he made his 100th appearance for Manchester United, starting in the match against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, the game ended 0–0. Park was included in the 23-man squad for the FIFA Club World Cup held at the end of 2008. He missed the semi-final but played the full 90 minutes in the final which they won 1–0 becoming the first English side to win the competition. On 7 March 2009, Park scored his first FA Cup goal in the 4–0 quarter-final win over Fulham at Craven Cottage, he latched onto a miss placed pass by Zoltán Gera eventually slotting it into the far corner for the fourth and final goal. On 15 April 2009, Manchester United advanced to semi-finals of the Champions League by defeating Porto 3–2 on aggregate. This made Park the only Asian player to be part of UEFA Champions League semi-finals on four different occasions.

On 2 May 2009, Park verbally agreed to a new four year £50,000 a week deal at Manchester United, he stated “I have no reason to move. I play at the best club in the world.” Following this announcement Park scored his second league goal of the season, and third overall, in a 2–0 away win against Middlesbrough. On 5 May 2009, Park scored his first Champions League goal for Manchester United in the second leg of the Semi-final against Arsenal at the Emirates. He pounced on a slip by Kieran Gibbs and placed the ball over Manuel Almunia in the 8th minute, with the game ending 3–1 (4–1 on aggregate), advancing United to the Champions League Final for the second year running.Park became the first Asian player in history to play in a Champions League Final, however it would not end in victory as Barcelona were crowned European champions winning 2–0.

On 14 September 2009, Park signed a three-year contract extension with United, keeping him at the club until 2012. Ferguson said during the summer that he was always confident a deal would be done with Park, whose wages are estimated to be about £65,000 a week. On 31 January 2010, Park scored his first goal of the season, hitting United's third in a 3–1 win against Arsenal. His last goal also came against Arsenal at the Emirates in the same scoreline, coming in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, this was also the first time United had beaten Arsenal at the Emirates in the Premier League. On 10 March 2010, Park scored his first European goal of the season which was also his first for United in Europe at Old Trafford, hitting the third in a 4–0 win over A.C. Milan. This was also his second goal against A.C. Milan in the Champions League. On 21 March 2010, Park scored a crucial winner in the derby against Liverpool, turning in Darren Fletcher's right-wing cross with a close-range diving header.On 4 May 2010, Park committed himself to United by openly claiming he would like to spend the rest of career with them, saying "There is no reason to move to any other team. On 9 May 2010, Park netted on the final day of the season, scoring a close-range diving header against Stoke City to wrap up a 4–0 win. Despite United comfortably winning, they were pipped to the title by Chelsea who thumped Wigan Athletic 8–0 to claim the league by a single point.[

Park returned to the United team for the first time following the World Cup as he started against a League of Ireland XI in their final pre-season game on 4 August 2010. He marked this game with the first ever goal scored at the newly built Aviva Stadium, he then scored a second later on as United ended the game 7–1 winners. On 22 September 2010, Park netted his first goal of the 2010–11 season as he scored United's fourth of a 5–2 away win against Scunthorpe United in the 3rd round of the League Cup. He then netted in the next round of the League Cup, scoring United's second goal in a 3–2 home win over Wolves on 26 October 2010.[36] Park scored his first two league goals of the season in a 2–1 home win over Wolves on 6 November, the second a late winner in the 93rd minute.

International career

Park began his international career as a 19-year-old defensive midfielder. Park made his first appearance selection during 2000 Sydney Olympics U-23 regional qualifier. Park was on 2000 Sydney Olympic roster along with Lee Chun-Soo, and Lee Dong-Gook. Selected by then manager, Huh Jung-Moo, he was unable to improve or show potential as a future regular for Korean national team. However, when Guus Hiddink became the head coach of South Korea, Park's position was shifted to that of a winger. Since then, Park has become a versatile player able to play in a variety of positions: central, right and left midfield, as well as wing-forward.

Park scored a memorable goal during the 2002 World Cup. During the group stages South Korea had won their first game against Poland and drew against USA. In order to advance, they had to manage a draw at the least against favoured Portugal side. The game was 0–0 until the 70th minute following two red cards against Portugal, when Park scored the match winner, controlling the ball with his chest and beating Sérgio Conceição before volleying it through the legs of Portugal goalkeeper Vitor Baia and into the net with his left foot. His goal eliminated Portugal and advanced South Korea into the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time.

Park's success in the World Cup continued into the 2006 tournament. He scored the equalising goal in the second Group G Match against eventual finalists France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup[40] and was voted Man of the match. Between these two World Cup Finals, his shirt number shifted from 21 to 7, and he played in every match for South Korea.

On 11 October 2008, he captained South Korea for the first time in a friendly against Uzbekistan. Korea won 3–0. He has been the skipper for the remainder of the qualification campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was top scorer, with 5 goals. One of his goals was against Iran in Seoul, beating 2 defenders then scored with his left foot. South Korea advanced to the finals without a single defeat.

On 12 June 2010, Park netted in his third consecutive World Cup, scoring the second goal in Korea's 2-0 win over Greece in their first group match. By scoring he created history in becoming the second Asian to score in three consecutive World Cup finals and became Asia's joint all-time leading scoring in the FIFA World Cup with three goals, alongside compatriot Ahn Jung-Hwan and Sami Al-Jaber of Saudi Arabia.