Japan, Qatar in the round of 16 China in the quarterfinals… The reason why Hwang Seon-hongho and Lee Kang-in wait and write 100%

There is a reason why coach Hwang Seon-hong wants to use Lee Kang-in sparingly. This is because they will face a series of difficult opponents starting from the round of 16 tournament.

In front of the Hwangseonhongho, which has to force a march in the inland region of China, where the humidity is worse than that of Korea, the match-up is not that good. Especially from the round of 16, if you lose in a penalty shoot-out, you will be eliminated immediately, so you have to be fully prepared. That is also the reason why we did not use Lee Kang-in hastily and waited for his condition to fully return.

The Asian Games national team led by Coach Hwang departed for Hangzhou, the final battle site, via Incheon International Airport on the 16th, and are currently training locally and preparing for their first match against Kuwait on the 19th. Hwang Seon-hong, who gathered in Changwon, Gyeongnam earlier this month and worked up a sweat, moved to the National Football Training Center (NFC) located in Paju, Gyeonggi-do on the 13th to finish training. And he arrived in Hangzhou.

Hwang Seon-hong will play the first match of the group stage against Kuwait from the Middle East at Jinhua Stadium in China at 8:30 pm on the 19th, and the second match of the group stage against Thailand from Southeast Asia at the same time on the 21st. The final game will be played against Bahrain in the Middle East at the same time on the 24th.

Korea is attempting to win its first-ever third consecutive title in men’s soccer at the Asian Games. The national team won gold medals consecutively at the 2014 Incheon Games and the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. Although main gun Son Heung-min could not participate in the Incheon tournament due to opposition from his team at the time, Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, key players such as Kim Shin-wook, Son Jun-ho, and Lim Chang-woo came together and defeated Japan in the quarterfinals and Thailand in the semifinals, and ended in overtime in the final match between North and South Korea. Thanks to Lim Chang-woo’s winning shot just before, they beat the team 1-0 and won their first gold medal in 28 years since 1986.

Then, at the Jakarta-Palembang tournament, Son Heung-min arrived on the day of the first match as a wild card, and the ultra-luxury members who participated in the Russian World Cup in the same year, including Seung-woo Lee, Hee-chan Hwang, and Hyun-woo Cho, gathered together and won the gold medal. At the time, Korea almost lost to Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals but won dramatically, then defeated Vietnam in the semifinals and beat Japan 2-1 in the finals to achieve a dramatic victory. In particular, Son Heung-min received special military service benefits and became an important foundation for his long run at Tottenham.  

To that extent, the Asian Games, a comprehensive tournament, have a special meaning for Korean soccer.

In the case of male athletes, they must win an Olympic bronze medal or an Asian Games gold medal to receive special military service exemption. This could be an important turning point for young athletes, including Lee Kang-in, who is on this list and wants to play for a long time on the European stage.

However, since Lee Kang-in is coming to China on the 20th after playing his team’s French powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)’s home game against Borussia Dortmund (Germany) in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League, he will not be able to play against Kuwait and Thailand on the 21st at full strength. We have no choice but to exclude Lee Kang-in. If his performance in the first and second games is good, Lee Kang-in’s participation in the third game against Bahrain on the 24th is likely to be significantly restricted.

Director Hwang also plans to use it after Lee Kang-in regains his condition to a significant degree and adjusts to jet lag to some extent. He also expressed this thought at the departure hall on the 16th.

“I was informed that he will join after the Champions League on the 20th. When he arrives in China, it will be in the evening of the 21st, so I plan to carefully review his condition and various other factors to decide when to put him in,” said coach Hwang, “They say the injury has recovered.” “I haven’t been able to participate in the game yet. I think I’ll have to watch the Champions League game (against Dortmund) on the 20th to judge my physical condition,” he said.

바카라사이트 Lee Kang-in was completely excluded from the entry in the Ligue 1 match against Nice on the 16th. Due to a muscle injury in the front of his thigh, he has been focusing on rehabilitation for the past two weeks. 

That’s why Director Hwang thinks there will be no rush to hire Lee Kang-in. He said, “If Lee Kang-in joins now, I think we will have to calculate when Lee Kang-in will be at his maximum and then put him in. Rather than using him quickly, I plan to consider that aspect and decide the time to put him in.”

Korea will face Kuwait, Thailand, and Bahrain in the group stage. Kuwait and Bahrain are not the top teams in the Middle East, but they are good odds, and Thailand has the best power in Southeast Asia, so it can be said that the group composition is not good. Of course, he’s not a bad Joe either.

What we need to be more cautious about are tournaments such as the round of 16.

If Korea takes first place in Group E, it will compete with second place in Group D to advance to the quarterfinals. Group D consists of Japan, Palestine, and Qatar. Japan has many college students participating in this competition. There are many evaluations that the team is not strong enough to be part of the first team of the under-24 (U-24) national team, which is the age for participation in this tournament. However, in the last Jakarta-Palembang tournament, the team took second place after Korea by forming a squad of top college players, including Hayase Ueda, who is currently playing for Feyenoord in the Netherlands.

Qatar is also an opponent that cannot let down its guard. In particular, it brought a great shock by defeating Korea 2-0 in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup preliminaries held in Changwon on the 6th. It is known that the team will participate in this Asian Games as well.

Of course, Korea has elite members, including wild cards such as Baek Seung-ho, Seol Young-woo, and Park Jin-seop, playing in the U-24 national team instead of the U-22 national team that lost to Qatar, but coach Hwang is confident in Qatar’s counterattack and one shot. The round of 16 should be planned with Japan or Qatar in mind.

And if they make it through the round of 16, they will advance to the quarterfinals, where there is a high possibility of a clash with the home team, China. Having experienced the opponent’s rough ‘Shaolin soccer’ in two away evaluation matches against China last June, Hwang Seon-hong needs to score early goals in front of China’s goal and maintain a stable game management. Otherwise, the Taegeuk Warriors could get caught up in China’s overreaching tackles. This is why Lee Kang-in, whose technical level is one of the best in Europe, must appear in good condition.

Lee Kang-in may not be at 100% in terms of stamina or game sense because he has not played in practice for almost a month. However, there is no need for him to write in a hurry. Since there has been no coordination with Hwang Seon-Hong-ho over the past year, Coach Hwang must figure out which positions will create synergy effects with second-line resources such as Hong Hyun-seok and Eom Won-sang. A solution emerged as how to apply the higher-order equations of Lee Kang-in’s use to the round of 16 tournament, which will be played against formidable opponents such as Japan, Qatar, and China.

◆Hangzhou Asian Games men’s national soccer team roster (22 players)

Goalkeeper: Gwang-yeon Lee (Gangwon) Seong-jun Min (Incheon) Jeong-hoon Kim (Jeonbuk)

Defender: Young-woo Seol (Ulsan) Gyu-hyeon Park (Dynamo Dresden) Jae-ik Lee (Seoul E-Land) Han-beom Lee (Seoul) Jin-seop Park ( Jeonbuk) Hwang Jae-won (Daegu) Choi Jun (Busan) Kim Tae-hyun (Vegalta Sendai)

Midfielders: Jeong Ho-yeon (Gwangju) Hong Hyun-seok (KAA Gent) Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk) Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk) Jeong Woo-young (Stuttgart) Go Young-jun (Pohang) Lee Kang-in (PSG) Eom Won-sang (Ulsan) Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon)

Forward: Park Jae-yong (Jeonbuk) Ahn Jae-jun (Bucheon)

◆ 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games men’s soccer draw results

Group A = China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India Group

B = Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mongolia Group

C = Uzbekistan, Syria, Hong Kong, Afghanistan Group

D = Japan, Palestine,

Qatar Group = Korea, Bahrain, Thailand, Kuwait Group

F = North Korea, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan