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August 10, 2009
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| At the season opener yesterday for France’s Ligue 1, two Koreans made a big impression. One was making his professional debut and the other, a Korean national team forward, assisted on a goal to help his club to victory. It didn’t take long for Nam Tae-hee, who plays for Valenciennes FC of Ligue 1, to make his professional debut in the home game against AS Nancy-Lorraine at Stade Nungesser. The 18-year-old midfielder, who had signed with the French club in early July, entered the match in the 63rd minute, after a goal by Jonathan Brison. Brison’s goal put Nancy-Lorraine up by a point in the second half. With his club trailing 2-1, Nam failed to make a big impact and Valenciennes FC lost 3-1. Mamadou Samassa scored the first goal of the game to put Valenciennes up 1-0 in the ninth minute of the game, but FC Nancy midfielder Floyd Ayite quickly tied the game at the 16th minute. Jonathan Brison scored in the 60th minute to put FC Nancy up by a goal and Bakaye Traore scored again 11 minutes later to seal the win. Nam became the sixth Korean player to play in Ligue 1 after Seo Jung-won became the first to do so in 1997 with RC Strasbourg. The other Korean player in Ligue 1 had a more significant role in the season opener. Park Chu-young of AS Monaco FC assisted on Nene’s goal in the 44th-minute to help his club defeat Toulouse FC 1-0 at Stade Louis II, in Monaco yesterday. Following on his first Ligue 1 season, where he scored five goals and five assists in 31 games, Park played the entire game yesterday. Park will return to Korea to prepare for a friendly against Paraguay on Wednesday. The national team had its first training session at the National Training Center in Paju, Gyeonggi, yesterday. By Jason Kim [jason@joongang.co.kr] |
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