As the first official coach , Korea’s young Taegeuk warriors were blocked by Italy’s wall and led to Korea’s world semifinals, and were frustrated from advancing to the finals.안전놀이터

The Republic of Korea U-20 soccer team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, lost 1-2 to Italy in the U-20 World Cup semi-final held at the Estadio Unico Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in La Plata, Argentina on the 9th (Korean time). South Korea, which failed to advance to the final due to a heartbreaking goal allowed by Simone Papundi in the 41st minute of the second half, will compete for third place with Israel, another ‘storm team’ of this tournament, at the same place on the 12th at 2:30 am.

Although advancing to the finals in two consecutive tournaments following 2019 was canceled, the achievements of the U-20 national team through this tournament are worthy of any praise. This time, the national team overcame the criticism of the ‘caught generation’ and defeated strong players such as France and Nigeria to stand tall in the world’s top 4. In particular, coach Kim Eun-joong, who has been in charge of the national team since January 2022, left his rather unfortunate and regrettable active days behind and took his first step as a leader very successfully.

He was a K League star but missed his national team career

After the 1998 World Cup in France, an unprecedented ‘renaissance’ came to the K-League. Young star players such as Daewoo Royals’ ‘Terius’ Ahn Jung-hwan, who has an actor-like appearance and splendid technique, Pohang Steelers’ ‘Lion King’ Lee Dong-guk, who boasts a powerful shot, and Suwon Samsung’s ‘Enfant Terrible’ Ko Jong-soo, who was called a football genius. because it came out all at once. And in the meantime, coach Kim “Sharp” Eun-joong led the new team, Daejeon Citizen.

Coach Kim Eun-joong, who has been active as Daejeon’s main striker since 1998, failed to build a splendid record due to Daejeon’s weak power, but led Daejeon to the FA Cup championship in 2001 with Lee Kwan-woo (Cheongju University coach). However, Daejeon, a poor citizens’ team, could not afford to have coach Kim Eun-joong, and eventually transferred coach Kim Eun-joong to Vegalta Sendai of the Japanese J-League on loan in 2003. And coach Kim Eun-jung transferred to FC Seoul right after the 2003 season was over according to the agreement between the clubs.

Coach Kim Eun-joong, who continued his steady performance by recording 8 goals and 2 assists in 2004 and 7 goals and 7 assists in 2005, played for one season at Changsha Jinder in the Chinese League in 2009 before wearing the Jeju United FC uniform in 2010. In 2010, coach Kim Eun-joong led Jeju to second place in the K-League with 13 goals and 10 assists, and was selected as the best 11 in the striker category along with the MVP of the K-League season, and reached the peak of his career at the age of 30.

Coach Kim Eun-joong, who moved to Gangwon FC in 2012, worked for a year and a half before moving to Pohang on loan in 2013, and won the league championship and the FA Cup in the twilight of his mid-30s. In 2014, coach Kim Eun-jung, who returned to Daejeon, where he first started his professional career, announced his retirement from active duty after serving as a playing coach for one season and contributing to Daejeon’s promotion to the first division. And manager Kim Eun-joong’s number 18 has been permanently absent for 18 years in Daejeon.

Coach Kim Eun-joong was a star player who had a decent performance in the K-League, but he failed to leave a mark on the national team. In fact, coach Kim Eun-joong was often selected for the national team under coach Umberto Coelho, but after Joe Bonfrere took over as coach, his selections for the national team gradually decreased due to players such as Ahn Jung-hwan, Lee Dong-guk, and Cho Jae-jin. In the end, coach Kim Eun-jung left a record of 5 goals in 15 A matches and ended his national team career a bit shabby.

Finishing in the quarterfinals at the first world competition in his coaching career

Coach Kim Eun-joong, who finished his active career at the end of the 2014 season, began his coaching career as a coach at AFC Tubiz in the Belgian 2nd division. In the 2016-2017 season, when the manager was hardened, he took over as acting manager in the second half of the season, but he also prevented AFC Tubiz from relegating to the third division while maintaining the team atmosphere. Coach Kim Eun-joong, who took over as coach of the U-23 national team in 2017, assisted coach Kim Hak-beom at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in 2018, contributing to Korea’s second consecutive victory in the tournament.

Coach Kim Eun-joong, who became head coach when coach Lee Min-seong, who was the head coach of the Olympic team, took over as head coach of Daejeon, coached the athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And in December 2021, when he was appointed as the under-20 national team manager, he took on the official manager for the first time in his career. The U-20 national team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, scored the first goal to China in the quarterfinals of the U-20 Asian Cup held in Uzbekistan in March, then scored three goals in a row to win 3-1 and win a ticket to the finals.

In fact, in this tournament, there were no big stars like Lee Kang-in (RCD Mallorca) in the 2019 tournament, and since it was the first U-20 World Cup held in four years, soccer fans’ interest was relatively low. However, coach Kim Eun-joong surprised football fans by beating France from the first match of the group stage despite the lack of interest and evaluation as a weak team. Kim Eun-joong, who advanced to the round of 16 with a record of 1 win and 2 draws in the group stage, vomited his spirit to reach the semifinals in two consecutive tournaments by defeating Ecuador in the round of 16 and Nigeria in the quarterfinals.

In fact, coach Kim Eun-joong made players who had not received much attention before the tournament become rising stars. Captain Lee Seung-won (Gangwon), who recorded 2 goals and 4 assists, emerged as the ‘Lee Kang-in of 2023’, and Choi Seok-hyun (Dankook University), who scored a set-piece header goal in 2 consecutive games, leaped to become a ‘goal-scoring defender’. Tall striker Lee Young-joon and goalkeeper Kim Joon-hong, both 192cm tall and serving in the military at Gimcheon Sangmu FC, are also attracting attention as promising players with a promising future.

Coach Hong Myung-bo (Ulsan Hyundai), who led Korea to the quarterfinals at the 2009 U-20 World Cup, led the national team until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil following the bronze medal at the London Olympics. There is also an example of coach Shin Tae-yong (Indonesian national team coach) who went through the U-20 national team and the World Cup national team in the Olympic team. This is why the next move of coach Kim Eun-joong, a ‘young leader’, who achieved an amazing achievement of being the world’s top 4 in the U-20 World Cup, which was the beginning of his coaching career, is expected all the more.