9-0, 4-0. The Asian Games men’s soccer team has been on fire in two games. This is despite the fact that superstar Lee Kang-in, considered the team’s alpha and omega, only just arrived and hasn’t even played a game.
Hwang Sun-hong’s men’s team scored four goals in the first half to cruise to a 4-0 victory over Thailand in the second match of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games Men’s Football Group E at the Jinhua Sports Center Stadium in China at 8:30 p.m. KST on Wednesday.
With the victory, South Korea matched their 9-0 win over Kuwait in the first round with two wins to clinch top spot in the group and a spot in the round of 16 early without having to play Bahrain in the third round.
Overwhelming firepower After scoring an unbelievable nine goals against Kuwait, they scored four goals in the first half alone against Thailand. The drop in second-half performance, which coach Hwang Sun-hong called “unsatisfactory” after the game, is consistent with the players’ lack of nerves after scoring 13 goals in 1.5 games (excluding the second half against Thailand).
Hwang Sun-hong, who scored goals at a shockingly consistent rate and had an easy game. If they can keep this up, a third consecutive gold medal after 2014 and 2018 is certainly possible.
There was good news for the national team. On the day of the match, Lee Kang-in finally joined the team. At the request of Paris Saint-Germain, Lee traveled to China from South Korea to play in the European Champions League against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Lee came on as a substitute in the 35th minute and played about 16 minutes of extra time in Dortmund, showing that he was improving his fitness in his first game back from injury in over a month.
Lee has finally joined the team. Before the game, Lee Kang-in had an in-depth conversation with head coach Hwang Sun-hong on the bench. In the post-match press conference, Hwang said, “We had a time to share our opinions. I have my thoughts, but the players have theirs. It’s important to share the same thoughts. We talked about that selflessly. I think we had a lot of contact,” he said after the match.
Lee Kang-in watched the game from the stands and joined the team on the field after their big win to enjoy the victory ceremony.
For those who don’t follow soccer, each of the current members of the Asian Games men’s soccer team is still largely unknown. However, 레모나토토 the entire country knows Lee Kang-in, who, to the casual observer, is the entirety of the team, which has already put together a dominant performance of 13 goals scored and two clean sheets in two games before his arrival.
Hwang Sun-hong and Lee Kang-in, the alpha and the omega of the team, are now in the midst of one of the best early starts in Asian Games history.