SEOUL– Jeong Tae-wook and Lee Sang-min have been rocks on defense for the South Korean men’s under-23 team for the past couple of years, helping the country qualify for the Tokyo Olympics along the way.
With the Olympics, postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a little more than a month away, the two defenders say they’re confident they can guard anyone, even world-class talent, such as Mohamed Salah of Egypt and Kylian Mbappe of France.
Both players have said they want to represent their countries in Tokyo, though their respective clubs — Salah’s Liverpool and Mbappe’s Paris Saint-Germain — may have other ideas.
But if South Korea end up facing Egypt or France, Lee said the team will be ready.
“They’re obviously talented players, but we have nothing to lose against them,” said Lee, a long-time captain of the U-23 team, in an online interview Monday. “If one player has trouble containing them, then we can throw multiple bodies at those players.”
Jeong sounded equally confident, and said he wants to use the Olympics as an opportunity to make an impression on European scouts.
“If I can handle those players, then people will say, ‘That kid should be able to play in Europe.'” said Jeong, who current plays for Daegu FC in the domestic K League 1. “Who knows, maybe I’ll get picked up by a European club that way.”
Jeong added it has long been his dream to play in the Premier League.
“I’d like to get closer to that goal at the Olympics,” Jeong added.
Lee, who mans the defense for the second-division club Seoul E-Land, said he has his sights set on the Bundesliga in Germany.
“If an opportunity presents itself, I’d definitely love to go,” the 23-year-old said. “I’ve wanted to play overseas ever since I was a kid.”
These two defenders and the rest of the Olympic hopefuls have been preparing for two tuneup matches against Ghana — first on Saturday and the second match on June 15 in Jeju Island. The African country stopped by Japan last week and lost 6-0 on Saturday, leading to concerns that Ghana wouldn’t be much of a test for South Korea.
Rather than questioning Ghana’s talent, Jeong and Lee gave credit to Japan.
“I got the impression that Japan were really well prepared,” Lee said. “In terms of engaging in physical battles and pressuring ball carriers, they looked like a much different team. If we ever face Japan at the Olympics, we have to be careful and be quick with our decisions.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency