The U24 national soccer team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, beat Japan 2-1 in the men’s soccer final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games at Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, China, on the 7th.
The Asian Games gold medal is a significant achievement not only for Korean soccer, which has won three consecutive tournaments, but also for Lee Kang-in’s individual.
With this gold medal, Lee Kang-in will receive military service benefits, which is even more valuable for Lee Kang-in, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain in the European stage.
If Lee Kang-in did not get military service benefits this time, there would have been restrictions whenever he transferred or renewed his contract in Europe. In the worst case scenario, he had to stop his European career and join Gimcheon Sangmu to solve military service, which could complicate the problem as he had to come to the K League.
However, at the age of 21, Lee Kang-in, who was already regarded as the best prospect in Europe, has become more active in his growth. 안전놀이터
Lee Kang-in, who has completely erased the possibility of a career break, is more likely to play higher than before. This was why PSG, which has already signed a five-year contract with Lee Kang-in, allowed him to transfer to this tournament during the season.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Palembang, Jakarta, senior members of the national team, including Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Hwang In-beom (Zvezda), won the Asian Games gold medal and continued to perform well on the European stage with a lighter heart.
Like them, Lee Kang-in, who is young, is expected to grow rapidly in the future as restrictions on military service have been removed.
In addition, this gold medal is also meaningful in that it is the first “winning” in Lee Kang-in’s career. Lee Kang-in has a brilliant career, including the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup Golden Ball, but this is the first time he has won the tournament.
In the 2018-19 season, when he played for Valencia (Spain), the team won the Copa del Rey, but Lee Kang-in was not able to play in the tournament because he was transferred to the national team. In the U20 World Cup, he remained in second place because he failed to overcome the last crisis, and he also had a bitter experience, being eliminated from the quarterfinals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first tournament in which he was exempted from military service. So I desperately needed to taste the “winner’s taste,” and I even met the experience through this competition.
Lee Kang-in has raised the honor of Korean soccer through the gold medal, removed restrictions through military service exemption, and achieved three harvests of experiencing his first adult championship.
