Season finally ends for Korea's Euro stars

Season finally ends for Korea's Euro stars

Blog Article

The season has finally ended for those Korean stars who ply their trade in Europe. The two World Cup

qualifiers earlier this month went pretty well with a 7-0 win in Singapore followed by a 1-0 victory over

China in Seoul.

As an aside, three of the top five biggest attendances in the second round of qualification were recorded in

Seoul. The capital’s World Cup Stadium has seen sellouts of 65,000 or so for all three games against

Singapore, Thailand and China. It is seriously impressive that, seemingly regardless of the opponent,

soccer fans in Korea come out in huge numbers to support the Taeguk Warriors. This passion needs to be

harnessed for the greater good of the sport in the country, though this has been said many times over the

years. And has been hard to replicate.

The win over China meant however that a busy European season has finally come to an end. The big stars

can now have a very well-earned rest.

Perhaps the happiest of those will be Lee Kang-in. The 23-year-old has just finished his first season with

Paris Saint-Germain. It was a successful one as he ended up lifting the French league championship as

well as the cup. The attacking midfielder has started to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in

Paris.

The low point is obvious and came in February when he came under huge criticism for what happened at

the Asian Cup in Qatar. For the very few who don’t know, Lee was involved in an apparent scuffle with Son

Heung-min before the semifinal, which ended with the senior star dislocating his finger. With Korea then

losing to Jordan in chaotic fashion the next day, it became a huge issue. After the tournament finished,

Lee had to travel to London to apologize to Son in 추천 person.

It has officially blown over. Lee starred in Singapore, scoring twice with one of those strikes a beautiful

goal. He then scored the only goal against China and is now one of Asia’s biggest and best players.

Lee will be desperate for the new season to start and great things are expected. In contrast, Son will be

ready for a rest after an up and down season for Tottenham Hotspur. Next month, he turns 32 and will

relish taking it easy for a while. It won’t be too long however as his club will be in Seoul on August 3 for a

pre-season exhibition against Bayern Munich.

Kim Min-jae will be in action for the German team. The defender also knows that next season is a crucial

one as he struggled at times during the second half of the season. After arriving in Bavaria from Napoli, he

initially looked settled but then on return from the Asian Cup in February, he wasn't quite the same.

"He was completely reliable up until he went to the Asian Cup in January, he completely saved us

throughout the season because he was the only player that really played every single game and didn’t take

any breaks or didn’t need any breaks either," Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel said as the season ended.

His overall analysis was mixed. “It’s not overly positive, it’s not overly negative, it’s about 50-50. It’s just

enough to meet the expectations here at Bayern.”

There have been rumors that Kim could be let go. If he stays, next season will be a crucial one. But then

the same can be said of all the Koreans in Europe.

 

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