March International Break Ends in Drama
Written by Michael Welch and Paul Jeung. Podcast appearances from Albert Kim and Namu Yoon.
What a day for the Korean national team it has been. On Tuesday evening in Korea at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the Taegeuk Warriors lost 2-1 to Uruguay. In an exciting rematch from the 0-0 draw in the FIFA World Cup group stage, we saw the potential of Jurgen Klinsmann’s attack featuring Lee Kangin and Son Heungmin in free, creative roles. Paul Jeung, our dedicated match ratings analyst, had this to say about each of the players who featured yesterday :
Cho Hyun Woo 5.5: Made a really good save on a Valverde shot. Also defended the 2nd free kick goal well, just got unfortunate that his save rebounded to a wide open Vecino. Didn’t make any mistakes with his feet.
Lee Ki Je 7: We finally have a fullback who can cross the ball. Not just decently either, it’s pretty elite (nice assist!!). Defending at times can still be a little suspect, but I like what I've seen.
Kim Young Gwon 4.5: I swear I’m not a hater, but another below average game from him. There was probably no stopping the 1st goal, but it appeared to be in his vicinity. He could have made a better effort to get in the way. His usual good passing from the back was a bit sketchy today as well. Also very unfortunate to have his goal called back.
Kim Min Jae: 6: Another up and down performance. I saw some really elite moments, and a lot of “trying to do too much” moments. But he is elite, make no mistake about it.
Kim Tae Hwan 5: What I expect out of him. Great defender, but really offers nothing going forward and was ball watching on the 2nd goal and didn’t help Hyun Woo out.
Jung Woo Young Sr 4: Got injured (hope he’s okay) but man he was not on it today at all. A step slow, a second slow, and inaccurate passes continue to plague him. I haven’t seen the defensive flashes that would allow him to stay on the pitch.
Hwang In Beom 8.5: Another strong, strong showing by Inbeom. Really initiated the offense well and made a good run to score our only goal.
Lee Jae Sung 5.5: Again had some nice dribbles, but never seemed to make the right decision today when it mattered and stuck out in a not so good way. Not a fan of him on the flanks, and made me miss Hee Chan a lot.
Son Heung Min 7: No clinical finishes for Sonny today, but was again super dangerous in the middle. I really like him there and it really does keep him fresh throughout the match. Props to Jurgen for this move.
Lee Kang In 7.5: Safe to say, when it comes to dribbling, getting around defenders, earning us priceless free kicks, I don’t think Korea has a better player. You can see the defenders focusing in on stopping him, sending 2-3 defenders at him and more times than not Kangin came out getting past the pressure. Highlights galore, we just need to turn this style into substance.
Hwang Uijo 3: I’m sorry, but I saw absolutely nothing from him. He can’t post up (gets pushed around physically by defenders), no aerial threat, can’t trap the ball, and can’t get past people. He offers little to nothing and honestly was the main reason I think we didn’t score while he was in. Everything we would build up to would usually stop when the ball reached him. I’m 100% sure this might/should be the last time we see this man on the pitch for the KNT.
Subs:
Son Jun Ho 6.5: He’s so much smoother and skilled compared to JWY Sr. Made some crisp passes and was a step ahead for the most part instead of a step behind like the man he subbed in for.
Oh Hyeong Gyu 7: The immediate clear difference he makes over Uijo was pretty alarming. Physical, posts up against defenders, has decent burst and was maybe a knee/shoulder offside on his turn and shoot goal off of Kangin’s killer cross. Might have been man of the match if he wasn’t off there.
Cho Gyu Seung N/A: Came in for 7 minutes or so, don’t think he touched the ball.
Even though the international break didn’t end with a victory, there is plenty there to build on for Jurgen Klinsmann and his coaching staff. The impact of Lee Kangin in his starting role was there for everyone to see.
Official Match Highlights :
Lee Kangin Focus Video :
Next Match for Korea : June International Window (Opponents and Location TBD)
Over the past few days, our Fighting Stripes Football crew has put together some audio content that covered a variety of topics. On the Taegeuk Warriors Podcast, Albert Kim and I discussed the pros/cons of Jurgen Klinsmann, his important tasks in the next cycle, the KFA ticketing fiasco, and Sang Bin Jeong’s move to MLS. Have a listen in the player below :
Also, we got together on Twitter Spaces right after the Uruguay match, with Namu Yoon and Albert helping me host the conversation with our followers (apologies that the space ended abruptly, as I left to handle an errand thinking I could hand hosting duties to Namu and Albert to keep the Space active) :
I’m hugely appreciative of the Fighting Stripes Football team for always turning up to help me host Spaces and blessed to have followers old and new come through to interact and ask questions.
Finally, let’s get into a news update as so much important news/drama regarding Korean football has happened today. It all started in the mixed zone after the Uruguay match, as Kim Minjae gave this interview to a reporter. Lee Sungmo, a Korean journalist, translated the exchange in a Twitter Thread and provided the quotes from the KFA’s response to his comments.
Kim Minjae has struggled with injury throughout his playing career, missing the 2018 FIFA World Cup through injury before rushing to fitness to play a key role at the 2018 Asian Games football tournament, winning a gold medal for Korea and coveted military exemption.
The quote from Kim Minjae that set off the drama was this : “Right now, I'm exhausted, mentally broken. For a while... not for a while, I want to focus on club only.”
In a season in which Kim has featured as a starter for Napoli in Serie A and Champions League matches and played the midseason World Cup through a muscle injury, it comes as no surprise that Kim is physically exhausted. It is likely the timing of the comments and the public nature of them that caused a problem.
As Sungmo’s thread details, Kim made his concerns about physical/mental exhaustion clear to the KFA in January. He was persuaded by the KFA to be selected for these friendlies to train for the first time under new manager Klinsmann.
The encouraging news from the standpoint of the KFA’s relationship with Kim Minjae is that Klinsmann will check on him in Italy soon and hopes to smoothly help Minjae to adjust.
Unfortunately, the drama didn’t end there. Korean netizens reacted strongly to Kim’s comments about wanting to focus solely on his club, which would imply that he doesn’t want to play for the national team for the time being. The backlash was strong enough that Kim released this apology post on Instagram (his caption is in Korean) :
Things went over the line when Korean National Team captain Son Heungmin liked this post and also posted his own response on Instagram (caption also in Korean) :
Son’s post reads as a veiled shot at Minjae and it was reported that Kim Minjae blocked Son after it.
Fortunately, this social media spat died down for the time being as both resumed following each other.
In my opinion, this situation is resolvable and hopefully will die down over time. Kim Minjae is one of the leaders in the Korean National Team dressing room and surely he and Son can talk through their differences civilly. They don’t need to agree on everything and conflicts between teammates are normal as long as the two can prioritize the team over everything else.
The bigger issue in all of this is the truth behind Kim Minjae’s comments. What if he is truly exhausted by all the obligations of playing for the national team? What is the KFA doing to alleviate those concerns? That’s the big picture issue that needs to be fixed.
Kim Minjae is 26, already one of the best centerbacks in the world, and he will be starting in our back four at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The KFA needs to find a way to protect this player and mend their relationship with him. If Kim Minjae requests a break from international duty in June, the KFA and Klinsmann should take the opportunity to select younger centerbacks who can partner with Kim Minjae for years to come.
The big problem for Korea’s back four at the moment is age. Kim Minjae’s centerback partner Kim Younggwon is 33. Kwon Kyungwon (31) and Park Jisoo (28) are backups to Kim. Cho Yumin, who went to the World Cup, is part of Kim’s 96라인, so he is 26. At the fullback positions, Kim Jinsu is 30 and incredibly injury-prone. Hong Chul is 32 and yesterday’s starter at leftback, Lee Kije, is 31. At rightback, we’re a little younger, with Kim Moonhwan at 27, Yoon Jonggyu 25, and yesterday’s starter Kim Taehwan as the only over-30 player at 33. We have to find players younger than 26 to pair with Kim Minjae across the backline.
If we don’t, Kim Minjae’s workload as the youngest member of the backline will only go up. He’ll have to make more lung-busting recovery runs to cover for his partners. Jurgen Klinsmann should watch the U20, U22, and U24 players closely to find out if they are ready for the step up to the senior national team. At centerback, will Jeong Taewook, Kim Jisoo, Lee Hanbeom, Lee Sangmin, or Lee Jaeik distinguish themselves as possible national team stalwarts? Could younger fullbacks like Seol Youngwoo, Kim Taehwan (Suwon Samsung Bluewings), Cho Hyuntaek, Lee Taeseok, or Choi Jun help the national team cope on defense? Over the national team matches at senior and youth level in 2023, Klinsmann and his staff have to prioritize finding younger players to step into our defense.
A news development that cannot get swept under the rug by this Kim Minjae drama is the KFA’s shock decision to pardon 100 officials linked to match-fixing.
The 2011 K League match-fixing scandal rocked the league to its core and anyone involved in that scandal has no place in football. The attendance of the league and the public’s trust in Korean domestic football nosedived after the results of the investigation. In 2023, the K League is beginning to make a strong recovery and gaining interest from the public. Pardoning officials who promoted cheating in the past is a step backwards from the KFA, and very tone-deaf to the current feelings surrounding Korean football. Sungmo Lee also posted that Korean fans protested this move, which is exactly the right response.
The final news update I wanted to post in here was the news that the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup does not have a host. Indonesia was set to host the event, marking their first time hosting a FIFA tournament in the football-crazed Southeast Asian country.
Unfortunately, the mixing of politics and religion have aligned to create a situation where FIFA felt compelled to remove Indonesia as host. Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country and has a history of support for Palestine in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When Israel qualified for the U20 World Cup, there may have been a diplomatic issue brewing. Recently, there were protests in Jakarta over Israeli participation in the tournament and concerns that provinces in Indonesia would not agree to host the squad.
In the end, Indonesia will no longer host the event and FIFA will now have to scramble to find a last-minute host for an event scheduled to kick off May 23. Currently, the rumored replacement hosts are Qatar (because of their abundant infrastructure), Peru (easy to swap their 2023 U17 World Cup hosting rights with Indonesia), and FIFA World Cup champions Argentina. What is certain is that losing host rights at this late juncture is a huge blow for the U20 Indonesian squad that was looking forward to competing in this tournament.
Let us know your comments on this Korean football news update!