Eun-joong Kim’Captain’ Lee Seung-won (Gangwon) aims for the beauty of the end of the world at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.스포츠토토
The Korean U-20 national team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, will play against Israel at La Plata Stadium in Argentina at 2:30 a.m. (Korean time) on the 12th.
Although they failed to advance to the finals for the second time in a row, if they win this match, they will rise to third place for the first time in the history of participating in the event.
Korea has reached the semifinals three times in the U-20 World Cup, finishing fourth in Mexico in 1983 and second in Poland in 2019.
As Korean men’s football has never won a 3rd-4th place match in a FIFA competition, the match against Israel is expected to provide sufficient motivation.
[Lodz, Poland = AP/Newsis] Lee Kang-in poses after receiving the Golden Ball, the MVP of the tournament, at the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup Ceremony, which ended at the Lodz Stadium in Lodz, Poland on the 15th (local time). South Korea, which advanced to the U20 World Cup finals for the first time in history, lost 1-3 to Ukraine and finished runner-up, and Lee Kang-in was awarded the ‘Golden Ball’. 2019.06.16.
Even in the game against Israel, the eyes are on Lee Seung-won’s ‘golden right foot’.
Lee Seung-won, captain of Kim Eun-joong, is accumulating 6 attack points with 2 goals and 4 assists in this tournament.
This is the same record as the attack point set by Lee Kang-in in the 2019 Polish tournament. FIFA awarded Lee Kang-in, who left a strong impression in the tournament even though Korea was runner-up at the time, the Golden Ball corresponding to the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Lee Kang-in was the first Korean player to receive the Golden Ball in a FIFA competition.
[La Plata = AP/Newsis] Lee Seung-won (right) during the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup semifinal match against Italy held at the Diego Maradona Stadium in La Plata, Argentina on the 8th (local time) chasing the ball 2023.06.09.
It is very unlikely that the Golden Ball will come out in Korea, which was pushed back to 3rd and 4th place due to a failure in the final, but there is a good chance that Lee Seung-won will surpass Lee Kang-in’s record.
Lee Seung-won was responsible for Korea’s offense, scoring one goal and one assist from the first match against France in the group stage (2-1 win).
Lee Seung-won, who added help in the group stage 2 match against Honduras, round of 16 Ecuador, and quarter-final against Nigeria, kicked a penalty kick won by Bae Jun-ho (Daejeon) in the 23rd minute of the first half when the team trailed 0-1 against Italy in the quarter-final.
He recorded a total of 6 attack points in 6 games played until the semifinals, excluding the 3rd game with Gambia.
[La Plata (Argentina) = AP/Newsis] Lee Seung-won of the U-20 soccer team
If Lee Seung-won scores or adds an assist in the match against Israel, it exceeds Lee Kang-in’s record four years ago.
Lee Seung-won, who was lying on the ground and weeping after the loss against Italy, showed his determination through FIFA+ after the game, saying, “There are still matches for 3rd and 4th place.”
On the other hand, Israel, which is considered one of the sensational teams along with Korea, advanced to the semifinals for the first time ever.
Although they lost 0-1 to Uruguay in the semifinals, they showed a strong side against Asian countries by defeating Japan in the group stage and Uzbekistan in the tournament.