Will young players in their 20s, Lee Seung-woo (26, Jeonbuk) and Bae Jun-ho (21, Stoke City), fill the gap between Son Heung-min (Tottenham) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton).
The national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, won 2-0 in an away match against Jordan on the 10th. With this victory, it jumped to the lead (2 wins, 1 draw, 7 points) in Group B competition for the third Asian qualifying round for the North-China World Cup. In addition, it paid off its debt of being completely defeated (0-2) in the semifinals of the Asian Cup in February.
The victory was sweet, but there was also a painful loss. Hwang Hee-chan, who started as left wing player in place of Son Heung-min due to injury, injured his ankle due to rough fouls by the opposing team and was replaced in the 23rd minute of the first half. Even Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), who inherited the role of left striker, was pulled out to the bench in the fifth minute due to knee injury. The two players were excluded from the roster after a thorough examination that was conducted immediately after their return to Korea on Wednesday confirmed that they were seriously injured. Hong added Lee Seung-woo and Moon Seon-min (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) to replace the two players.
The fourth Group B match against Iraq, which will take place at Mir Stadium in Yongin at 8 p.m. on the 15th, is a watershed moment in advancing to the North China-U.S. World Cup finals. As Group B’s situation has narrowed down to a three-way race between South Korea, Jordan and Iraq, chances are high that Hong Myung-bo will go straight to the top of the group if he catches Iraq after Jordan.
Lee Seung-woo and Bae Jun-ho are considered as alternatives to lead the left flank attack, in which Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan, the two pillars of the Korean national soccer team’s offensive, are absent all at once. Both players are multiplayer who can play multiple positions in an offensive zone. They also share various talents including creative movement, repression ability and goal-scoring ability. While Bae is ahead in linear movements such as dribbling breakthrough, Lee gets high scores in techniques that penetrate the opponent team’s defense line.
His strength is strong defense of his opponent team, Iraq. He is running on an unbeaten streak (6 wins and 1 draw) by scoring just one goal (13 goals) in seven A matches he has played since the Asian Cup finals. If Lee Seung-woo and Bae Jun-ho, who are similar but different, play their part by taking advantage of their strengths, Hong’s scoring routes will be much more diverse.
The weakness of the two players is that they have little experience in A-match games. Lee Seung-woo has re-worn his national team uniform for the first time in five years and four months since an A-match exhibition game against Iran in June 2019 when he was the former coach of Paulo Bento (Portugal). Bae Jun-ho was first selected for the A-team in June and has only three A-match experiences. 먹튀검증
However, if the two players in their early and mid-20s play in the match against Iraq and take root in Hong Myung-bo, they can ease their worries about “after Son Heung-min,” one of the biggest concerns in Korean soccer.
Bae Jun-ho, who received a passing score as a substitute in the second half of the match against Jordan, is highly likely to start as a left wing in the match against Iraq. However, there is a possibility that the roles of the two players will change, given that Lee Seung-woo, who did not play in the match against Jordan, has no physical exhaustion due to long-distance flight and jet lag. It is also possible that the two players will play on the ground side by side while replacing Lee Jae-seong (Mainz) and other players.
“I have been eagerly waiting for this moment for the past five years,” Lee said before the national team’s training on Wednesday. “I will show everything I have without regret.” “Rather than competing with the older players, I will think about how to create synergy by playing together,” Bae said.
