“It’s normal to notice”… Lee Kang-cheol, who was burdened even before departure
Correspondent Lee Dae-ho = On the 8th, one day before 메이저사이트 the opening game of Group B of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) group stage, veteran left-handed pitcher Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG Landers) of the Korean National Baseball Team had a meaningful story.
Just as the Japanese baseball team made up their minds during a dinner party in Nagoya, the training ground for convocation, when asked if there was a similar place among players in Korea, he said, “If you get results, you can have a dinner party. If you do it before the start, you can talk again.” it is answered
Even if he finished laughing like a joke, saying, “It’s normal to notice,” it was a word that gave a glimpse of how psychologically the players were being pursued.
Lee Kang-cheol-ho, who was even cautious about eating outside to harmonize with the players ahead of the tournament in a distant foreign land, focused on the first match in Group B, the Australia match.
At the official press conference before the tournament, where team captain Kim Hyeon-soo (LG Twins), left-handed pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong, and outfielder Na Seong-beom (above KIA Tigers) appeared, they only repeated the words, “We will win against Australia” no matter what question was asked.
It is no wonder that he expressed his determination to focus on the match against Australia, which is the watershed of passing the first round, which is just around the corner.
However, when the answer to all questions came down to ‘Australia match’, and when the national team was asked what they expected from going to the semifinals and going to the United States, the answer to ‘Australia game’ meant that the players did not have enough room in their hearts. show what
Korean baseball, which had been eliminated in the first round twice in a row at the WBC in 2013 and 2017, took this tournament as an opportunity to recover its popularity.
With the determination to wash away the humiliation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (fourth place) held two years ago, even a foreign player, Tommy Hyeonsu Edmon (St. Louis Cardinals), was selected for the national team for the first time.
It is fundamental for players to feel the weight of the Taegeuk mark and do their best in the competition.
However, even before the start of the tournament, the national team took on the heavy task of ‘saving Korean baseball in crisis’.
It is not difficult to guess the pressure the national team players must have felt in this event after watching the case of Kang Baek-ho (kt wiz), who was treated as a traitor just for chewing gum at the Tokyo Olympics.