Bold Young Players Invigorate K-League

The most exciting K-League player so far this season has been Lee Chung-yong. In the opening game between Seoul and Busan he made his debut, scoring his first goal in a professional game, showed rapid movement and dribbling ability, assisting with a goal, and becoming a favorite of his coach, Senor Gunes.

Until last season, his inability to show enough skill kept him on the bench. But this year, thanks to encouragement from his manager Gunes during training games and in the opening game, he has found confidence. He only participated in four games last year, but has played in all the eight games in this season, and has recorded one goal and four assists in those games.

Though Manager Cha Beom-geun’s deployment of Ha Tae-gyun was only as a sub, Ha immediately proved his value as a starter.

Suwon, a team with many injured players, was losing against Gwangju on April 4, 0-2 but was able to make one score up with Ha’s goal. He displayed his ability with his excellent sense for the ball. On April 8, in front of 500,000 fans, he successfully scored the final goal that defeated Seoul. He proudly highlighted his name among the prominent names of Suwon strikers such as Ahn Jung-hwan, Nadson and Edu. In the past, he was the top goal scorer (six goals) at the 2005 Geumgangdaegi National High School Soccer Games.

Han Dong-won, who scored four goals to fill the void left by the departure of Park Ju-young (22• Seoul) on the Olympic team, recently scored a goal during the Seongnam-Ulsan game and made himself conspicuous in the professional world.

Daegu player Lee Geun-ho made to sixth on the top scorers’ list by adding three goals to his record.

Lee Cheong-yong and Han Dong-won began to play in professional games right after graduating middle school, and Ha Tae-gyun dropped out of Dankook University to become a professional player. Lee Geun-ho, who was a player in the second army league until last year, moved to a new team this year and is enjoying a chance for a new beginning.

“I used to have many afflictions when things were too hard,” says Lee Geun-ho.

It seems that what they have in common are their doggedness entering the professional soccer world at early ages, and their iron will to overcome past difficulties.

But it’s still too soon for overconfidence.

Lee Cheong-yong did not do a good job in the game against Suwon on April 8. Suwon players already knew that he was the main attacker for the Seoul team and concentrated their defense against him. Unhindered checks from senior players can intimidate young players. Ha Tae-gyun still has to survive the competition with other big stars in his team, and Han Dong-won has the “wall” of Kim Du-hyeon to overcome. The challenges from new players and the responses from senior players are invigorating Korea’s soccer fields.

bluesky@donga.com