It is a sign of entering an era of infinite competition again for the top A national team goalkeeper position. At the center is Lee Chang-geun.
Cho Hyun-woo of the A national team played as the main players in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and Kim Seung-kyu in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, respectively. Until recently, there has been a competition between the two as the main goalkeeper. 토토사이트링크Song Bum-keun Shonan Belmare and Kim Dong-joon Jeju United came and went to the A national team as the third option. Even after Jurgen Klinsmann was appointed to the A national team this year, Kim Seung-kyu defended the goal three times and Cho Hyun-woo once out of the four games he has played so far.
Starting with the Qatar Asian Cup in January next year, the first mission, Klinsmann is drawing a partial generational change or infinite competition system in the national team. In particular, the defensive area, where the need for change has been raised since last year’s World Cup, takes precedence over the attackers, whose core power is the European team. According to our newspaper’s coverage, Klinsmann intends to breathe a new wind into the goalkeeper competition.
Klinsmann’s goalkeeper coach Andreas Köfke is currently looking closely at high-quality goalkeepers in Korea. Lee Chang-geun is the most notable resource while communicating with director Klinsmann. He started as a member of the K League K League All-Star, which played a friendly match against Atletico Madrid ATM at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 27th of last month, and played 45 minutes in the first half. He made a strong impression by blocking shower shots from leading stars such as Antoine Griezmann with an animal sense.
Lee Chang-geun, who made his professional debut at Busan I-Park in 2012, joined Daejeon last year through Suwon FC and Jeju United, and played 32 games as the main Goliath, leading the team’s promotion to the first division. This season, he is playing a big part in the military field. Daejeon has been evaluated as weak in defense compared to offense, and so far, it has been ranked at the top in major goalkeeper data categories, including No. 1 in K League 1 saves (96 times), No. 1 in punching 55 times, and No. 1 in airball processing 30 times.
He didn’t stand out much as a member of the national team. During the 2013 U-20 World Cup in Turkiye, he contributed to South Korea’s advance to the quarterfinals as a key player, but has since slowed down. In particular, he was called to the national team ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, but he was pushed back in the competition with Kim Dong-joon and Koo Sung-yoon Kyoto. He became a top goalkeeper again with his bone-cutting efforts on the professional stage. Nevertheless, the only career of the A national team was played in place of Koo Sung-yoon in the second half of the friendly match against Qatar in Austria on November 17, 2020.
According to the Korea Football Association KFA, coach Köfke will watch the match between Daejeon and FC Seoul where Lee Chang-geun plays on the 13th. In addition, coach Klinsmann and coach Köfke are also known to highly appreciate Kim Joon-hong Kimcheon Sangmu, a new goalkeeper who contributed to the semifinals of the U-20 World Cup in June. It remains to be seen whether the goalkeeper position will be the starting point for the reform of the A national team, which has changed to Klinsmann’s team.