SEOUL– Former FC Barcelona youth player Lee Seung-woo, who has quickly emerged as one of the most popular players in his South Korean season, will headline a K League All-Star squad against the visiting Tottenham Hotspur next week.
The top South Korean league unveiled the 24-man “Team K League” on Thursday, six days before the summer exhibition match against Tottenham at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The 12 K League 1 clubs sent two players each. Teams were all asked to submit a list of candidates first. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors head coach Kim Sang-sik, who will be in charge of Team K League, and Suwon FC head coach Kim Do-kyun, the Team K League assistant, made their selections, with the help of the K League’s technical committee.
After a slow start to his first season for Suwon FC, Lee has turned heads with his scoring prowess and memorable goal celebrations. Lee was held scoreless in the first five matches of the season but has netted eight goals in 15 matches since.
Lee will be one of 10 midfielders for Team K League. He will be joined by: Kim Dae-won and Yang Hyun-jun of Gangwon FC; Aleksandar Palocevic and Cho Young-wook of FC Seoul; Sin Jn-ho of Pohang Steelers; Um Won-sang of Ulsan Hyundai FC; Kwon Chang-hoon of Gimcheon Sangmu FC; Lee Myung-joo of Incheon United; and Gerso Fernandes of Jeju United.
Jeju striker Joo Min-kyu, the 2021 scoring champion currently in second place in goals this year, was one of four forwards named to Team K League. The other three are: Cho Gue-sung of Gimcheon; Cesinha of Daegu FC; and Lars Veldwijk of Suwon FC.
Team K League will have eight defenders: the 2021 league MVP Hong Jeong-ho and Kim Jin-su of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors; Lee Ki-je and Davy Bulthuis of Suwon Samsung Bluewings; Jeong Tae-wook of Daegu; Kim Dong-min of Incheon; Park Seung-wook of Pohang; and Kim Ji-soo of Seongnam FC.
The two goalkeepers are Kim Young-kwang of Seongnam and Jo Hyeon-woo of Ulsan.
Kim, at 39, is the oldest goalkeeper in the K League this year.
After facing Team K League, Tottenham, featuring South Korean star Son Heung-min, will also play Spanish club Sevilla FC on July 16 at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul.
The two coaches of Team K League, Kim Sang-sik and Kim Do-kyun, appeared on a YouTube talk show to discuss their lineup choices and look ahead to next week’s match.
Kim Sang-sik said he was confident that South Korean leaguers can topple Tottenham and that he can outcoach Antonio Conte.
“I think it’s doable. We’re going to humble Conte,” Kim said. “Even though this is an exhibition match, we’ll have to make the K League proud. The players will go out there and battle to win. We will start players that have been in great form of late.”
Both coaches were left scratching their heads when asked about how to best contain Son, the reigning Golden Boot winner as the Premier League scoring champion.
“It will not be easy to man-mark Son Heung-min,” Kim said. “Our defenders and midfielders will have to work together as a unit.”
Kim Do-kyun said he was particularly wary of Tottenham players’ speed and shooting, and it will take a group effort to keep them in check.
“On offense, we’ll count on our speedy wingers to attack Tottenham in space behind their wing backs,” he said. “We will take this match by 3-2 or 4-3.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency