[Asian Games] Lee Kang-in Finally Steps Onto the Field with Hwang Seon-hong… Sneakers, Not Soccer Shoes

Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), the ‘future of Korean soccer’

whom coach Hwang Seon-hong had been anxiously waiting for,

finally took the field with his teammates.

The atmosphere at Jinhua Sports Center Stadium in Zhejiang, China,

on the afternoon of the 21st was quite different from when Korea defeated Kuwait 9-0 two days ago.

At that time, the faces of Hwang Seon-Hong Ho’s players were stiff.

They were determined to take the first step in the competition with the best picture they knew.

1st Game

There were smiles on this day, perhaps because they achieved a record-breaking victory in the first game, 토토사이트

or because Kuwait and Bahrain drew earlier, increasing their chances of finishing first in the group.

There was no sweltering air that filled the empty stadium and made it suffocating.

The temperature, which was above 30℃ even after 8pm,

dropped to 24℃ in two days, and I could finally feel the cool breeze caressing my skin.

Korean fans, who were rarely seen before the Kuwait match,

also gathered in groups and prepared for a cheering match with Thai fans.

Some fans wearing Red Devil headbands and Taegeukgi stickers on their cheeks were waiting for someone.

Hwang Seon-Hong

The more welcome change for Hwang Seon-Hong than all of these situations combined was the appearance of Lee Kang-In.

Coach Hwang and the players have been eagerly waiting for Lee Kang-in to play the role of the team’s ace.

The last time Lee Kang-in played a real game as a member of Hwang Seon-hong

was on June 12 last year in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)

U-23 Asian Cup quarterfinal match against Japan.

At that time, Hwang Seon-hong and Lee Kang-in,

who packed their bags full of regret after losing 0-3, rarely reunited after that.

This is because Lee Kang-in’s skills grew rapidly and he began to be classified

as a national team A resource rather than a national team by age group.

Lee Kang-in

After playing the Qatar World Cup last winter with former A national team coach Paulo Bento,

he grew into the two axes of the attack along with Son Heung-min (Tottenham),

making it more difficult for coach Hwang to select Lee Kang-in.

Lee Kang-in, who joined Hwang Sun-Hong with ease under the permission of his team Paris Saint-Germain (France),

appeared at the ground that day and chatted with coach Hwang on the bench.

Lee Kang-in was wearing white sneakers, not soccer shoes.

Lee Kang-in, who had been concentrating on conversation for about 20 minutes,

stood up and welcomed his teammates as they returned to the locker room after finishing the warm-up.

Song Min-gyu

Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk) expressed his joy by hugging Lee Kang-in,

who was moving around in front of his colleagues whom he had not seen in a long time.

Due to the tight schedule in which the game was held as soon as Lee Kang-in arrived in the Hangzhou area,

Coach Hwang removed Lee Kang-in from the playing list.

Lee Kang-in, who left the ground, is watching his teammates’ game from the stands rather than the bench.

Coach Hwang and the players must have been looking forward to this moment coming as soon as possible,

as striker Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon) immediately after the Kuwait game told Lee Kang-in,

who contacted him asking, ‘Can we go slowly?’

However, there were other voices among the soccer fans who visited the scene.

Joo-yoon Lee (31), who is about to get married, and Hyun-woo Park (33),

who visited Jinhwa Sports Center Stadium, believed that Kang-in Lee’s joining was timely.

The explanation is that as other players showed off their skills in the game against Kuwait,

fortunately, all the spotlight did not fall on Lee Kang-in from the beginning of the tournament.

He is a ‘football fanatic’ who looked for a Chinese visa two months in advance

in order to watch this game and gave up all the annual leave he had saved.

He said, “There are a lot of good players on this team other than Lee Kang-in.

Lee Kang-in manages his condition well so that when the team needs him, he is there.

“It would be great if we could play a role in providing ‘oriental medicine’,” he said.