Korean baseball opened its heyday with success in the 스포츠토토 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held in 2006 and 2009, and gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. After that, I couldn’t reproduce this performance, but players who challenged the major league stage came out steadily, and the league began to grow externally.
Beginning with Ryu Hyun-jin, who signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013, Yun Seok-min, Kang Jeong-ho, Kim Hyun-soo, Park Byeong-ho, Hwang Jae-gyun, and more recently, Kim Ha-seong, Kim Gwang-hyun, and Yang Hyeon-jong, players who challenge the major leagues or sign contracts with the team appear almost every year. Composed of the mid and late 1980s, they have always been with the Taegeuk mark as a leading player on the international stage. In terms of individual ability, he deserves to be selected as one of the golden generation of Korean baseball.
The last competition they will virtually play together may be the 2023 WBC. This is because players such as Kim Hyeon-soo, Park Byeong-ho, Choi Jeong, Kim Gwang-hyeon, Yang Hyeon-jong, Yang Eui-ji, and Na Seong in the mid- and late 1980s have become veterans in their mid-30s. The Asian Games in Hangzhou, which will be held in September, are mostly young players, so they are not the military number to go out. There is a premiere 12, but it is still undecided when it will be held.
So personally, it was a more desperate competition. There is no player who has asserted that he is the ‘last national team’, but not everyone denied it when asked ‘wouldn’t it be the last Taegeuk mark’? It’s because I’m not too old to think about the WBC four years later. The resolution to enter the competition was also different. It was difficult to build a body, but everyone prepared for the competition with a sense of responsibility. However, the last dance is in danger of being too short.
Korea, which was tied in Group B with Japan, Australia, Czech Republic, and China in the first round of the finals, lost 7-8 in its first match against Australia, and a red light came on for the possibility of advancing to the second round, which is given to second place in the group. In the second game against Japan, they lost 4-13, and the atmosphere rather calmed down. Although they won 7-3 against the Czech Republic on the 12th, it was not a sweeping victory. We are still unable to advance to the second round on our own.
There is only one chance of advancing to the second round. It is a way for the Czech Republic to beat Australia by conceding more than 4 points in the Australia-Czech match that will be held from 12:00 on the 13th. Assuming we win the match against China starting at 7:00, the three teams are tied with 2 wins and 2 losses, and the points lost between the teams are counted. In this case, we take second place. However, if Australia wins, Korea is simply eliminated. The match against China, which has lost much meaning, could be the last game that this golden generation will play together.
Overall, it is clear that the players of the Korean national team are not looking good. They couldn’t even demonstrate their abilities and were swept away by the atmosphere. If given a little more opportunity, it seems that they could reap some kind of beauty with a little better performance, but unfortunately, that opportunity was in the hands of other teams, not their own hands. Will they get their last chance by advancing to the quarterfinals? The match between the Czech Republic and Australia, which starts at 12:00 p.m., is attracting attention.