Choi Seok-hyun, a small giant, conveyed his strong aspirations.
The Republic of Korea national under-20 (U-20) soccer team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, will host the 2023 FIFA U-20 Argentina held at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina at 6 am (Korean time) on the 26th. They will face Honduras in the second match of Group F of the World Cup group stage. South Korea has 1 win (3 points, goal difference +1), and Honduras has 1 loss (0 points, goal difference -1).메이저놀이터
In the first game, Korea overpowered France, a strong ‘championship candidate’, and turned on the green light to advance to the round of 16. After thoroughly establishing a defensive line, Korea counterattacked and aimed at France’s goal. Korea took the lead in the 22nd minute with Lee Seung-Won’s first goal, and Lee Young-Jun’s additional goal in the 19th minute in the second half. In the 25th minute of the second half, an absurd referee gave a penalty kick (PK) and conceded a goal, but won 2-1.
In particular, Choi Seok-hyun, who built a solid defensive line with Kim Ji-soo, stood out. On this day, Korea allowed a total of 15 shots, but only gave up 6 effective shots. As much as that, the two center backs narrowed the angle well, and prevented the opposing striker from shooting comfortably.
Ahead of the match against Honduras in the second game, Choi Seok-hyun analyzed the past match against France, “First of all, I had good breathing with (Kim) Ji-soo, and I think I played a good defense with good positioning and quick response.”
Choi Seok-hyun is not tall for a center back. He is 181 cm in profile. However, his small stature did not become a weakness for him at all. In the past, there have been many successful cases of small center backs such as Fabio Cannavaro (176cm) and Sergio Ramos (184cm).
Choi Seok-hyun also said, “I have Cannavaro (as a role model), and I am selecting Ramos as my role model. I want to be like him because he has similar physical conditions and is playing on the big stage until his late age through good defense.”
Seok-Hyun Choi promised to win against Honduras. He said, “Since the Honduran strike team is fast and has good crosses, I think we need to mark the crosses from the side as much as possible to prevent conceding as much as possible. Among the teams that came out, I want to finish the tournament with the least number of goals.”