The Korean public was outraged after reviewing a video of three players Lee Kang-in, Seol Young-woo, and Jung Woo-young playing a water bottle flipping game as the Korean team prepared to play Jordan in the semi-finals of the 2023 Asian Cup.
In this video, three players gather in a stadium and play a game of flipping water bottles to keep their balance. Whoever knocks over the bottle gets their ears flicked by the others. The group of players laugh heartily at this game.
These are the 3 players that the Korean media mentioned when they played table tennis before the match, making captain Son Heung-min angry and causing a fight.
Three players Lee Kang-in, Seol Young-woo, Jung Woo-young play with water bottles before the match against Jordan.
Specifically, during dinner the day before facing Jordan, the group of players ate quickly, then left to play table tennis.
When he heard Lee Kang-in and his friends making noise, Son Heung-min went over to warn them but only received a challenging attitude from Lee Kang-in. Son grabbed Lee by the neck and was then punched by the PSG player. The captain dodged. Others rushed in to stop him. Son later dislocated his finger.
After the incident, a group of prominent players, not including Son Heung-min, asked coach Jurgen Klinsmann to remove Lee Kang-in from the semi-final match, but the coach refused, allowing Lee to play the full 90 minutes. The Korean team was eliminated after a 0-2 defeat, missing the chance to win the championship after 64 years of waiting.
The group of 3 players appeared close on the national team.
Before the incident broke out, many fans considered this a cute action by Lee Kang-in, Seol Young-woo, Jung Woo-young. However, when the video was re-posted on February 15, Korean netizens were very upset.
" I was shocked. Even though something happened the day before, I didn't see them stressed at all ," one fan commented.
" The day after the captain's finger was dislocated, everything was normal ," another opinion was given.
"No self-respect? Those kids who gather and ruin the atmosphere of the team should be sent back to their clubs. They are not qualified ," another comment said.
Lee Kang-in admitted to having a conflict with Son Heung-min, but his agent denied his client punched the Tottenham striker.
Lee Kang-in was born in 2001 and was a "child prodigy" of Korean football. In 2019, he won the Asian Young Player of the Year award, helping Korea win the U20 World Cup runner-up and the Golden Ball award of the tournament. Lee is currently playing for PSG.
Jung Woo-young was born in 1999 and is currently playing for VfB Stuttgart. Previously, he played for many other German teams such as Bayern Munich and SC Freiburg. Jung played for the national team from the youth levels of U14, U17, U20 and U23.
Seol Young-woo was born in 1998 and is currently playing domestically for Ulsan Hyundai. This player plays as a center back and has won the K.League 2022, 2023 and the AFC Champions League 2020.
Van Hai
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