Yang Hyun-joon returned to the national team after a year and a month. Until a few months ago, I was motivated to meet Camkam Hong Myung-bo
Mar 18, 2025
|
|
It was Hong Myung-bo, coach of the A-team, who woke Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic), who was faltering 'Yang Star'. South Korea's A national team, which is aiming to advance to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time, will play Group B 7 of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Oman at Goyang Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 20th. He will then play the eighth game against Jordan at Suwon World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 25th.
We only have a bit more to go till we reach our goal. In the third qualifying round, the first and second places in each group will win a ticket to the North Korea-China World Cup finals. Hong Myung-bo is ranked first in Group B with 14 points (4 wins and 2 draws). Iraq (3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss) is in second place with 11 points, and Jordan (2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss) is in third place with 9 points. Oman is in fourth place with six points (2 wins and four losses). If South Korea wins both consecutive games in March, it can confirm its advance to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time early on.
Hong called up the best members. In particular, it mobilized all second-line resources that are active in Europe. It is Yang Hyun-jun who catches the eye. Yang Hyun-joon, who moved to Celtic last season and stepped on the European stage, had difficulty competing for the starting lineup this season. It was in January that Yang Hyun-joon, who had a diminished position, stretched out. Yang Hyun-joon, who scored his first goal of the season, showed an amazing performance of four goals and five assists in eight games.
Coach Hong responded. He will return to the national team for the first time in a year and a month after the 2023 Qatar World Cup. Coach Hong met Yang Hyun-joon in person during his European appearance in January. In his presentation press conference, he met with Yang Hyun-jun when he visited Europe. He was not a player who played in the team as a main player, but when I talked about it after the game, I found out that the team had difficulties. However, he has shown good performance since February. I don't think the playing time will be longer than now, but the fact that he is showing impact in a short time is positive.
|
Regarding his changes over the past year, he has become a stronger player mentally. There were a lot of shortcomings and still a lot of things, but I worked hard to make up", he explained. As for the recent good performance, "It was a rough league, so I tried to build up my physicality to avoid being pushed out of the physical fight, and I did a lot of core exercises. I've always tried to do well since training because I can show good performances without getting hurt only when I'm ready."
Yang Hyun-joon should compete with not only Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhamton), but also Yang Min-hyuk (Queens Park Rangers), Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City) and Um Ji-sung (Swansea City). He said "It's my competitiveness to be able to dribble aggressively. When the team is in a difficult situation or in a bad situation, I can play a good role in changing the mood," he said in a subtle appeal.
Reporter Park Chan-joon vanbasten@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
