Lee Dong-kyung's left foot, the first goal of the fantastic kick, is real. The European team is in line for the second-term competition

Jul 07, 2025

Lee Dong-kyung's left foot, the first goal of the fantastic kick, is real. The European team is in line for the second-term competition
The national soccer team played its first match against China at Yongin Mir Stadium on the 7th. Lee Dong-kyung scored the first goal in the first half. Yongin = Reporter Song Jeong-heon @sportschosun.com/2025.07.07/



Lee Dong-kyung's left foot, the first goal of the fantastic kick, is real. The European team is in line for the second-term competition
The national soccer team played its first match against China at Yongin Mir Stadium on the 7th. Lee Dong-kyung scored the first goal in the first half. Yongin = Reporter Song Jeong-heon @sportschosun.com/2025.07.07/
Lee Dong-kyung (Kim Cheon, managing director) once again showed off his crazy left foot skills.

South Korea's men's A team (23rd in FIFA rankings), led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, won 3-0 in the first match of the 2025 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) against China (94th in FIFA rankings) at Mir Stadium in Yongin on the 7th. The certificate of official limitation was valid. Korea has won six consecutive games against China recently. South Korea, which won all of the second Asian qualifiers for the 2026 North-China World Cup, also laughed at the East Asian Cup. He continued his absolute advantage with 24 wins, 13 draws and two losses in his career. South Korea, which won the opening game, will try to win the East Asian Cup for the first time in six years.

The East Asian Cup began in 2003, the year after EAFF was established. South Korea, China and Japan will host alternately, and three countries will participate automatically. This year, Hong Kong has secured the remaining place. In the case of men, South Korea won the most five times, while Japan and China won the top twice, respectively. The defending champion is Japan, the 2022 winner. Starting with the opening match against China, Hong Myung-bo will face Hong Kong at 8 p.m. on the 11th and Japan at 7:24 p.m. on the 15th.




Hong pulled out a 3-4-3 card on the day. Lee Dong-kyung stepped up to the right wing. Not a typical winger, but a free-roll role to and from the centre. Lee Dong-kyung led the attack by saving his left foot, his specialty.

Lee Dong-kyung's left foot, the first goal of the fantastic kick, is real. The European team is in line for the second-term competition
The national soccer team played its first match against China at Yongin Mir Stadium on the 7th. Lee Dong-kyung scored the first goal in the first half. Yongin = Reporter Song Jeong-heon @sportschosun.com/2025.07.07/
He scored a fantastic first goal in the eighth minute of the first half. Kim Moon-hwan, who received Park Seung-wook's pass, gave it to Lee Dong-kyung. Lee Dong-kyung connected with a left-footed shot after spilling this ball. Ball shook the Chinese net as it was, drawing a nice trajectory. It was the first A match score in four years after scoring his debut goal in the second qualifying match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup against Sri Lanka at Goyang Stadium on June 9, 2021.

Lee Dong-kyung played with a sharp kick from time to time. He was also in charge of set pieces. The net goal in the 11th minute of the second half also came from Lee Dong-kyung's left-footed corner kick. Lee Dong-kyung's left-footed corner kick from the right headed for Park Seung-wook. Park Seung-wook's header was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper's super save, but Kim Joo-sung pushed the flowing ball. It was Kim Joo-sung's A-match debut goal.




Lee Dong-kyung, one of the best cracks in the K-League, received his uniform number 10, the symbol of the ace of this tournament. He showed his best performance as expected. It also increased the possibility of going to North Korea, China and the U.S. The second line, where Lee Dong-kyung is located, is crowded with European factions. Starting with Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Lee Jae-sung (Mainz) are playing. There are also many newcomers such as Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City), Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), and Yang Min-hyuk (Tottenham). It's not strange that European teams will get all the World Cup entries by name alone, but Lee Dong-kyung challenged the competition for the second term by appealing his strong left foot.



Reporter Park Chan-joon vanbasten@sportschosun.com






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.