At this point, he’s a regular member of the A team. He is playing a key role in the Asian Games and is consistently getting called up to the A team.
The main man is Hong Hyun-seok (24-KAA Hent), who has been on a roll lately. This year, he has been busy wearing the Korean flag. On October 2, the Korea Football Association announced the 24-man roster for the October A match. Among them is Hong Hyun-seok.
The South Korean team, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, will play Tunisia in Seoul on October 12 and Vietnam in Suwon on October 17.
Before this year, not many people knew much about Hong Hyun-seok. The only information available was that he was a promising player in the Belgian league. But Klinsmann’s assistant coach, Andreas Harechok, watched him play in person, and it was a golden opportunity. He hadn’t been involved with the A team before, but in June, he was named to the roster for the first time.
Hong made his debut for the A team in June when he came on as a substitute against Peru. He made his first start against Wales in an exhibition match in Europe last month, playing the final 16 minutes.
Klinsmann recognized the talent and value of Hong’s game, and made it clear that he wanted to use him in the future. In fact, Klinsmann selected Hong for the national team.
Due to the Asian Games schedule, Hong only played in the Wales match last month and joined Hwang Sun-Hong Ho’s Asian Games squad.
Despite his busy schedule, Hong has been taking the Asian Games by storm. In the quarterfinals against ‘hosts’ China on the previous day, he led South Korea to victory with a tremendous performance. He scored the game-winning goal in the 18th minute with a stunning left-footed free kick. Song Min-kyu (Jeonbuk Hyundai) added a brace as South Korea won 2-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Hwang Sun-hong made light work of China, resting key players such as Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart). Hong Hyun-seok, who took the field first, was the centerpiece. South Korea will meet ‘dark horse’ Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.
South Korea will be looking to win their third consecutive gold medal after winning in Incheon in 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang in 2018. Hong Hyun-seok’s role will be crucial.
The Asian Games final will be held at 9 p.m. on July 7. After the Asian Games, Hong Hyun-seok will join the A team immediately. Hong is a midfielder who is accurate with his passing and full of flair. He is also quick on his feet. He can play both in the center and on the flanks. It will be interesting to see how Klinsmann uses him. In his trials last month, he used him as a flanking midfielder.토토사이트
In addition to Hong, fellow Asian Games members Lee Kang-in, Jung Woo-young, and Seol Young-woo (Ulsan Hyundai) were named to the roster. ‘Captain’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Hwang In-beom (Tsubena Zvezda), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Cho Kyu-sung (Mittwilan) were also included.
Klinsmann did not make any major changes to the roster. Veteran defenders Kim Jin-soo (Jeonbuk Hyundai) and Kim Tae-hwan (Ulsan Hyundai) are back. With important tournaments such as the Asian Cup in Qatar next January coming up, Klinsmann’s intention is to use his best players to improve their performance and team organization.
Currently, Klinsmann’s team is mired in a 1-win, 3-draw, 2-loss slump. After going five games without a win since Klinsmann’s appointment in February, they earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory in Saudi Arabia last month. Cho Kyu-sung scored the winning goal with a stunning header.
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