The FIFA U-20 World Cup, where you can see talents who will lead the world soccer in the next 10 years, will be held in Argentina on the morning of the 21st (Korean time) USA-Ecuador , starting with the match between Guatemala and New Zealand.
Initially, the tournament was scheduled to be held in Indonesia, but in response to the Indonesian government’s declaration that it would not accept Israel due to religious issues, FIFA struck down the withdrawal of the hosting rights and searched for an alternative site to arrange it in Argentina.
It is a journey that spreads like green onion kimchi to Kim Eun-joong, who is playing in the group stage in Mendoza, Argentina, a city adjacent to the Chilean border, which takes nearly 37 hours from Indonesia, which was only 7 hours away from Korea. It is a more difficult journey because I flew with Japan from the ‘Far East’.
Kim Eun-joong-ho, who fights big variables from Indonesia to Argentina,
still made a quick plan, such as adapting to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then moving. Kim Eun-joong (44), the U-20 coach, couldn’t even conduct field trips, the basics of World Cup preparations, and left everything to the staff and coordinator. Because he has more to adapt to.
It is difficult to know whether the U-20 World Cup will be held in Korea until the start of the tournament. Even if the media writes articles and informs them through videos, it is difficult to feel it. I wonder if so many incidents in the soccer world have made us forget about the U-20 national team.
If you explain to the general public, “In 2019, it was a tournament in Poland where Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) and his colleagues made a big success, and made it to the finals, losing to Ukraine and finishing runner-up.”
As such, there is little interest in this competition. It is because of the absence of a star player that anyone can know. Despite the bitter taste of being eliminated from the group stage, in the 2005 Netherlands tournament, I was excited by the appearance of “soccer genius” Park Joo-young (Ulsan Hyundai), and in the 2007 Canadian tournament, I was fighting sickness with “Ssangyong” Ki Sung-yong (FC Seoul) and Lee Cheong-yong (Ulsan Hyundai). Shin Young-rok, who is recovering, made his name known.
In the 2009 Egyptian tournament led by coach Hong Myung-bo, who advanced to the quarterfinals, Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan Hyundai), Koo Ja-cheol (Jeju United), and Kim Bo-kyung (Suwon Samsung) lived up to expectations. In the 2011 Colombia tournament, even though there were no special stars in sight, they united with teamwork and made it to the round of 16. Jang Hyeon-soo (Al-Hilal) and Kim Kyung-joong (Suwon Samsung) scored goals.
In the 2013 Turkiye Tournament, which also reached the quarterfinals, Kwon Chang-hoon (Kim Cheon Sangmu) showed the power of Suwon Samsung Youth Maetango, and Ryu Seung-woo (Suwon Samsung) also prepared a clue to Germany. The 2015 tournament did not make it to the finals, and in the 2017 tournament held in Korea, Lee Seung-woo (Suwon FC) and Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk Hyundai) added the leadership of coach Shin Tae-yong to the name value from the two FC Barcelona youths and advanced to the round of 16.
Three or four months before the tournament, there were definitely players who were highly anticipated, but this time is different. That would be the case, as the new coronavirus (Corona 19) was hit directly, the opportunities for players to be seen inside and outside decreased. 2020-2021 flew through.
Corona 19 blew the opportunity to build a sense of practice, but… Kang Seong-jin-Kim Ji-soo-Kim Yong-hak, etc. Expectations ↑
In the case of Europe, starting in 2021, small regional competitions and friendly matches were resumed to confirm the players’ skills by resuming exchanges. Africa U-20 Nations Cup qualifiers, Central and South America were similar. Asia, including Korea, where complete isolation and blockade were implemented, was never dreamed of, and it was only last year that I started to build organizational power through Asian qualifiers, but it is true that it was not easy.
Coach Kim also complained of difficulties, saying, “Everyone asked who the players were. I was worried. When the tournament starts, I will pay more attention to it.” The skills of the players are obviously not perfect, but I was worried that the players would lose their spirits by paying attention only to the flaws they would show during the game.
So, I went through The K-League, University U-League, and national competitions to meticulously examine the players. There are no standout players, but Kang Seong-jin (FC Seoul), a striker who showed potential in the Asian qualifiers, and Kim Yong-hak (Portimonense), who are aiming to become a key player in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, are Daejeon Hana Citizen’s young player Bae Jun-ho, who is the main character of a sensation at the beginning of the K-League this season. attention is drawn to Also, watching the performance of central defender Kim Ji-soo (Seongnam FC), who has been rumored to join Brentford, has become an important point to watch.
Worry is the lack of practical sense. Korea is tied to Group F with France, Honduras and Gambia and fights in turn. It is by no means an easy opponent. France are mostly in Ligue 1 or play in Italy, Spain, Germany, England and Austria. Even if he did not make it to the first team, he played for the B team and built up a sense of real combat. The same goes for Honduras and Gambia.
The U-20 national team is a team that acts as a link between youth and adult national teams. It is true that the under-23 (U-23) national team participating in the Asian Games and Olympics is receiving more attention as a realistic problem, such as solving military service due to the uniqueness of a divided country in the trend of modern soccer, where entry into the professional world is accelerating, so that you can comfortably challenge Europe. , From a global perspective, it is true that the roots of the lower teams, such as the U-20 national team or the U-17 national team, should be stronger.
It is the most dangerous culture to evaluate all national teams with the same standard and perspective as national team A, but it is not easily changed in Korean culture, which is ‘result-oriented’ rather than ‘process’. You have to accumulate all the good and bad experiences in the national team for each age group to rise to the A team and become stronger, but in Korea, all national teams have to perform in competitions, and if they fail, they will be criticized as the A team. In this process, countless talented players disappeared, and there were many cases where leaders were also killed.
What does the reality without a leader who only coaches national teams by age for more than 10 years say?
During the 2007 U-17 World Cup held in Korea, the England national team was led by coach John Peacock (68). At that time, he was already 51 years old. In Korea, he would have commanded a professional team or coached the national team A, but Coach Peacock passionately guided the U-17 national team.
Starting with Derby County youth team coach in 1998, he continued to coach the U-16 and U-17 national teams. What is surprising is that he has been in charge of the U-17 national team since 2002 and has developed players. He continued until 2015, after which he was appointed Derby County coach. When he met Korean reporters at the time, he was asked, “Why have you been in charge of the U-17 national team for so long?” He replied, “The more you coach young players, the more important the coach’s career and experience is. The players’ skills also grow faster. I care like my own children,” he explained the philosophy. Most of the coaches who assist him are in their late 40s to over 50s.
In many European countries, including England, the culture of early professional advancement has settled down early, so the ability of players selected for the U-20 national team is somewhat low. This was complemented by the leaders. At that time, England was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but Danny Welbeck (Brighton Hove Albion, then Manchester United), Victor Moses (Sparta Moscow, then Crystal Palace) and Danny Rose (then Tottenham Hotspur) were left behind. Moses then chose Nigeria for the national team A.
Our team’s age group leaders are replaced with new faces every tournament. I’m not criticizing them for using the age-specific national team as a springboard to go to a professional team. It is more so in that it is a leader’s own choice.
However, it is true that the continuity of the leader is required to quickly understand the characteristics of the players and complete them as a team, but the environment or treatment is poor for that. When I asked the Korea Football Association about the salary level of the national team leader by age, the answer came back, “It is difficult to tell you.” In a way, this is a natural reaction. It is because there is a side that is difficult to stay for a long time and only relies on the passion and mission of the leader.
In addition, when the manager of national team A changes, there is a difficulty in adjusting according to the individual’s tactical tendency. Coach Paulo Bento has melted the build-up-oriented soccer for more than four years, but coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s soccer has yet to be clearly identified. This is all the more so considering that the A team also affects the national team by age group.
An anonymous Mr. A, who had experience with a full-time coach, said, “To be honest, I manage and monitor more players than a professional coach, but the salaries are too comparable. Let’s say I do it with a sense of mission. It’s only the leader’s job. I haven’t seen him act as a shield. So, who wants to take responsibility and start developing players?
With external burdens,토토사이트 coach Kim focuses only on the tournament. No one knows what he will do. I just hope that the disciples who receive less attention from him will show it to the best of their ability. However, what is certain is that when the tournament is over, he becomes an unemployed person with the stigma of success or failure. Yes, because the contract period is over. It’s always a thing in the game world, but it has become an important tournament for coach Kim as well. It is up to the fans and the people to decide whether it is a tournament that lays one more stepping stone for the development of Korean football or whether it is decided based on simple content and results.