Min-jae is a player who needs to improve. It would be nice if we watched him better.”
Hong Myung-bo, coach of Ulsan Hyundai, conveyed the sincerity of the nuance that all of us should spare time and cherish Kim Min-jae, the ‘treasure of Korean soccer’.
Recently, Kim Min-jae caused controversy with an interview with the Mixed Zone after the Korean national football team’s two domestic friendly matches (Colombia on the 24th and Uruguay on the 28th). At the time, he made a remark that seemed to imply that he was retiring from the national team, which led to the unfollowing situation of Kim Min-jae and Son Heung-min in the past, and the factional controversy between the 1992 and 1996 national team members, and the situation grew out of control. 메이저놀이터
As a result, Kim Min-jae personally explained and apologized, and the case was settled. However, he must have had a harder time as a player than anyone else. Kim Min-jae is a young player in his mid-20s, and the seed of a world-class defender who will support Korean soccer for more than 10 years.
Coach Hong, who dominated an era from the 1980s and 1990s to the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, felt like he had something to say to his juniors because he was also under pressure and burden similar to Kim Min-jae’s due to the present and future of Korean football. I asked director Hong, “If you think of Hong Myung-bo at the age of 26, what do you think of this Kim Min-jae situation and what can you say?”
Then, coach Hong said, “At Min-jae’s age now, it would be after I played the 1994 World Cup in the United States (actually, 1996 is the same as the current age of Kim Min-jae). It seems like it,” he said, taking his luck.
Then, when I asked what the solution was, he said, “Min-jae’s situation has a lot to be concerned about. But Min-jae is just starting out. He’s just starting out in Europe and is doing well, and he needs to go to a higher position. So we, People around Minjae need to have a little more time to watch over him. I think it would be best to give Minjae more time.
Coach Hong is a defender who enjoyed an era, and in the 2002 World Cup, he led the Korean soccer team to advance to the semi-finals and rose to the ranks of world-class center backs, winning the Bronze Ball and being selected as a World All-Star. Kim Min-jae is a center back who will take on an important mission to support the next 10 years of Korean football following coach Hong, and is a treasure of the Korean defense that can advance to a bigger stage with SSC Napoli as a stepping stone. Shouldn’t we all listen to and accept the sincerity of Director Hong, who is concerned about these buds being trampled on and is wary of excessive criticism from the public?