Kim Eun-joong is creating a sensation in Argentina. He secured a spot in the round of 16 before he had yet to play the third group stage match. It is a very unfamiliar sight for Koreans who are accustomed to always calculating the number of cases. At least in the U-20 World Cup, Korea is the Pride of Asia itself.
The adult World Cup is also splendid in Asia, but its footprint is even more splendid in the U-20 World Cup.
The U-20 competition is the gateway to world stars… Maradona and Messi both won the Golden Ball. Hallan is the top scorer
The FIFA U-20 World Cup has been held for 46 years since the first tournament was held in 1977. Many superstar players have passed through this event. Just looking at the face of the winner of the ‘Golden Ball’, which is the best player award in this tournament, you can guess its status as a ‘contest place for prospective stars’.
The player who was credited with leading Argentina to the championship in 1979 was the late Diego Maradona. Not just Maradona. GOAT Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain), who wrote a new history of soccer around the world, also won the Golden Ball in 2005. Brazilian striker Adriano in 1993, Sergio Aguero (Argentina), who made a name for himself as Manchester City’s leading striker in 2007, and Paul Pogba (Juventus), a key midfielder in the French national team and a key player in Juventus and Manchester United in 2013, won the golden award. won the ball
Elling Hollan (Norway, Manchester City), the world’s best striker at the moment and the ‘monster striker’ with 36 goals in the Premier League (EPL), scored a whopping 9 goals and won the top scorer in the 2019 Polish tournament.
Lee Kang-in won the Golden Ball at the 2019 competition… the birth of the Golden Generation
Korea also has a shining star in the U-20. This is Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) who shines in the 2019 Poland World Cup Golden Ball. With Lee Kang-in at the forefront, ‘Jeong Jeong-yong-ho’ achieved the highest ever runner-up in men’s soccer competitions organized by FIFA. It was the birth of the so-called Golden Generation.
South Korea, which defeated ‘powerhouse’ Argentina 2-1 in the group stage, advanced to the final stage by winning against Korea-Japan in the round of 16, Senegal in the quarter-final, and Ecuador in the semi-final, but unfortunately lost to Ukraine 1-3 and missed the championship.
Lee Kang-in stood tall as Mallorca’s ace. He was praised as the best dribbler in La Liga. Currently, he is receiving steady love calls from the EPL. The possibility of moving the team to the transfer window this summer continues. In this tournament, Korea’s striker Kim Yong-hak and defender Kim Ji-soo are attracting attention.
South Korea, the undisputed leader of Asia in the U20s… 1 runner-up, 1 semi-final, 5 quarter-finals
This is the 23rd U-20 World Cup, which started at the 1977 World Youth Soccer Championships.
There are five times that they have succeeded in advancing to the quarterfinals by breaking through the main round, and they have reached the quarterfinals or higher twice.
Korea, which had been eliminated in the group stage in both the 1979 Japan Tournament and the 1981 Australia Tournament, its first appearance, wrote a myth of reaching the semifinals at once in its third appearance, the 1983 Mexico Tournament. At the time when 16 teams advanced to the finals, the national team, which lost 0-2 to Scotland in the first group stage match, had a bleak prospect, but took a turnaround by defeating Mexico and Australia (2-1 wins) to advance to the quarterfinals.
The national team, led by coach Park Jong-hwan, tried to advance to the final by defeating Uruguay, the strong player in South America, 2-1. This is the myth of Mexico’s semifinals, which was continuously introduced to the public right before the 2002 World Cup.
Kim Eun-joong, who started at the 2023 Argentina U-20 World Cup, managed to advance to the round of 16 in three consecutive tournaments (2017, 2019, 2023) after winning 1 win and 1 draw in 2 group stage matches.
If you advance to the quarterfinals by taking advantage of the momentum that overpowered the’winner’ France in the first game of the tournament, it will be the 6th quarterfinal in history, and if you step on the semifinal stage, it will be the third quarterfinal following 1983 and 2019.
Korea’s so-called ‘semi-defending champ’. The goal is higher because it is the runner-up team in the previous competition. I’m careful to dare to say it, but it’s a ‘win’.스포츠토토
The Korean national team will play the last match of the group stage against Gambia at Mendoza Stadium in Argentina at 6:00 am on the 29th.