While Korean football has achieved a splendid feat in the World Cup round of 16 after 12 years, there are voices calling for an overall upgrade of the Korean football environment. Taegeuk Warriors are urging changes in Korean soccer by evaluating neighboring country Japan one after another.
“Monster defender” Kim Min-jae said in an interview with reporters before leaving Incheon Airport to join his team, Italy Serie A Napoli on the 14th, “If I dare to say a word to a Korean player, if a European team offers it, I hope (the club) sends it well. “Honestly, I envy Japan a lot. Now, we cannot compare with Japan,” he said with confidence.
He mentioned the difficult situation for Korean players to advance to Europe. “There are a lot of things to do with the club,” he said. The transfer fee 스포츠토토 (required by the K-League) is also expensive,” he said. “I envy Japan (in this respect). There are many European players in Japan, so they are competitive. In fact, I don’t think there’s even a comparison.” In fact, in this World Cup, only 8 players from Europe were from Korea, but 19 from Japan. Kim Min-jae praised his experience abroad, saying, “Korean players are talked about with modifiers such as fighting spirit and fighting spirit, but European players run more and have fighting spirit.”
National team midfielder Hwang In-beom also mentioned Japan earlier. He said, “I don’t think (Korea) has the same environment as Japan just because it produced the same results as Japan,” he said. “Japanese players are currently doing well in a good environment. No matter which European league you go to, there are a lot of (Japanese players),” he said. At the same time, he emphasized, “It is not a miracle that Korean soccer goes to the round of 16 by working hard, but a lot has to change to consistently show good performances in the World Cup like Japan and better teams.”
Korea and Japan both reached the round of 16 at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but Japan finished 9th and Korea 16th. The Japan Football Association, which aims to win the 2050 World Cup, is actively supporting its players to advance to Europe. Although it failed to advance to the quarterfinals, which was the goal of this tournament, it is evaluated that it has grown qualitatively by defeating European powerhouses such as Germany and Spain one after another.