Son Heungmin punched first. Again, again! Cleesman who mentioned the ping pong gate...Until when will the national team lose its image?
May 10, 2025
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Former coach Jurgen Klisman still seems to have not forgotten the Korean national team. He appeared on CBS Sports' podcast on the 10th and mentioned again the 'tablet gate' that took place at the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar.
At the time, the case became a big controversy. South Korea expected a tremendous achievement of winning the Asian Cup, led by ultra-luxury overseas players such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae, but was eliminated by Jordan in the semifinals. During the game, the players made a series of pass misses, and there was a lot of criticism about their performance as they did not work together.
This turned out to be due to a dispute between the players. Ahead of the match against Jordan, national team captain Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in argued. For the team's unity, Son Heung-min wanted the players to communicate together at the meal, but Lee Kang-in woke up early to play table tennis, causing the conflict.
As the two players collided strongly, Son Heung-min suffered a serious injury to his finger. The national team's organizational power, which watched the fight between the captain and the youngest player in front of his eyes, quickly collapsed. South Korea, heavily armed with overseas forces, was disastrously defeated by Jordan, who is considered a relative weak player.
Foreign media also highlighted the incident, and the reputation of the Korean national team fell. In addition to being eliminated from the Asian Cup, he was disgraced worldwide.
As the foreign media spotlighted this, Klisman said their fight was related to the elimination of the Asian Cup. I was busy criticizing the players without taking responsibility as a coach.
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Klisman said, `The two players faced each other and there was a real fistfight"Lee Kang-in made a bad joke, and Son Heung-min hit him."
Cleesman's continuing to bring this up seems to be a complaint about the replacement. The cause of the Korean national team's poor performance is not the manager's responsibility.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) dismissed Klisman for responsibility for the shock elimination of the Asian Cup in February last year. Klisman was under contract until 2026, but the Korea Football Association terminated it and asked for a penalty for the remaining two years of the contract. The penalty is known to amount to about 7 billion won.
Meanwhile, Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in made up with each other after the controversy. Lee Kang-in, a member of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), went to London in person and met Son Heung-min (Tottenham).
Son Heung-min, who received an apology, publicly said to forgive Lee Kang-in.
Lee Kang-in posted an apology directly on his social network service (SNS) and bowed to his teammates and fans of the national team.
Lee Kang-in said, `With short thoughts and rash actions at the last Asian Cup, I was very disappointed in the entire team and the fans, including Heung-min hyung.' `Even when I think about it now, it was an act that should never be done. I am deeply sorry."
After the apology was announced, Son Heung-min posted a photo of himself alongside Lee Kang-in on his SNS.
Son Heung-min said, `Kang In sincerely reflected on himself and made a sincere apology to all the players of the national team, including me.' `We will try to make the Korean national team grow further in the future with this opportunity.'
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
