Silent 2nd term, but there is a strong front line...Oh Hyun-gyu - Expectations on Joo Min-gyu
Silent 2nd term, but there is a strong front line...Oh Hyun-gyu - Expectations on Joo Min-gyu
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The national soccer team is aiming to go straight to the FIFA World Cup finals with front-line strikers Oh Hyun-kyu (24, Genk) and Joo Min-kyu (35, Daejeon Hana Citizen).
South Korea will play 7th Group B match against Oman in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup at Goyang Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 20th.
Korea is on the verge of advancing to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time. It ranks first in Group B (4 wins, 2 draws, 14 points) in the third qualifying round in which 18 teams compete in three groups. If the team wins both Oman on Tuesday (six points for fourth place) and Jordan (nine points for third place) at the Suwon World Cup Stadium on Saturday, it will be able to secure second place in its group and confirm its advance to the finals regardless of the results of the remaining matches on Sept. 10. In the third qualifying round, the top two in each group will advance to the World Cup finals.
It is strikers Oh Hyun-kyu and Joo Min-kyu who aim for Oman's goal. The style is different, but the condition is at its peak at this point.
Oh Hyun-kyu, who boasts fast speed, left Celtic (Scotland) to join the Belgium team's main pillar league before the 2024-25 season. He has scored 10 goals (two assists) in 32 official matches alone. He is not a regular starter, but boasts outstanding determination by playing for only 20 minutes per game. Prior to the call-up, he had improved his skills by scoring the finisher in two consecutive matches.
"It's important to empty your mind," Oh said in an interview on the first day of his call-up on Thursday. "A striker needs to score points regardless of whether he plays or not. I was able to score a goal because I emptied my mind."
Joo Min-gyu of the same position is also in good shape. He has scored five goals in five games since the opening of the K-League. He left Ulsan HD to wear the Daejeon uniform ahead of the opening of the season, but his performance is overshadowed by concerns over his adaptation. He has been responsible for the team's first goal in three consecutive games recently.
Last year, he set a new record of being the oldest Korean male player to make an A-match debut (33 years and 343 days) with the national flag. "The flower that bloomed late" is still in good shape this year. His goal is to play in the World Cup finals.
"Playing in the World Cup is every player's dream. For now, I will focus on two consecutive games," Joo said. "He expresses his decision-making power as an advantage, but I think more shots should be made. It is not easy to score against a team that has been lowered, but we have to endure and wait in the end. I will play with my experience in the match against Oman," he said. "I scored against Oman in September last year.
There is another reason to have high expectations on Oh and Joo Min-kyu. The national team's proud second-term players have shown poor performance recently. In addition to Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Yang Min-hyuk (Queens Park Rangers), Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City) and Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic) also joined the team. However, Yang Hyun-joon was the only one who scored more than two goals in March. Son Heung-min also scored only one goal in 12 recent matches for his team.
Another task for the team is to find a sense of stability in the midfield and defense. Team Korea's main defender Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) failed to play due to injury of his Achilles tendon. Midfielder Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord) could not play in his team for more than a month due to injury and played just before his call-up. In addition, the team is not in good condition overall, and the dates of arrival vary. Coach Hong Myung-bo emphasized, "We will closely check the team's condition."바카라 Only when the team is in optimal physical condition can the team expect a result of the match against Oman.