“What a player!” Ligue 1 shines a light on Lee Kang-in’s ‘A-match debut goal+multi-goal’ in France
The French Ligue 1 has praised Lee Kang-in’s performance.
The South Korean national soccer team, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, defeated Tunisia 4-0 in a friendly at the Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. It was the first back-to-back wins for the ‘Klinsmanns’ since their last win against Saudi Arabia.
World Cup qualifiers in November, Asian Cup in January. Tunisia was a good test to prepare for the teams they would face in the higher rounds of the Asian Cup. Klinsmann called up all of his elite players for the match, including Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, Kim Min-jae, and Lee Kang-in.
For this match, Klinsmann made a few changes. He benched Son Heung-min, who had started five of the six matches since taking over. Given Son’s recent fitness issues, this was a player management decision.
Lee Kang-in took his place on the bench. After returning home from the Asian Games with a gold medal, Lee immediately boarded the Klinsmann and began the A-match schedule. Centering on Lee Kang-in, who played as an attacking midfielder, were Lee Jae-sung and Hwang Hee-chan on the left flank and Cho Kyu-sung up front.
Despite the absence of Son Heung-min, the national team’s offense has been impressive. Their last five games have been somewhat frustrating, with only five goals scored, but this game was different. After a silent first half, the team scored a whopping four goals in the second half to put Tunisia under pressure and record a 4-0 victory 안전놀이터.
At the center of it all was Lee Kang-in. Lee led the way with his smooth movements, breakaways, and forward passes. In the second half, he scored the first goal of the game, directly from a free kick, to make his A-Match debut, and added another goal soon after. On the third goal, he made a significant contribution to the third goal by delivering an accurate cross to Kim Min-jae’s head. In the second half, Lee walked off the field clapping his hands, and the crowd responded with a rousing ovation.
The French Ligue 1 also recognized Lee Kang-in’s tremendous performance. “Lee Kang-in, what a player!” the French Ligue 1 said on their official English-language channel.