Li Weifeng, who joined the Chinese national team as a member of the Century Club and played for Suwon Samsung in the K League, has spoken out about the South Korean national team.
The South Korean national soccer team (ranked 23rd by FIFA), led by Jürgen Klinsmann, will take on Jordan (ranked 87th by FIFA) in the semifinals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, at 0:00 a.m. on July 7.
Ahead of the match, China’s Sohu.com published an interview with Li Weifeng. “Have you watched the last two matches of the Korean national team at the Asian Cup? What was their performance like? They equalized in extra time after 90 minutes and then went on to win. This is no fluke. Other teams might have given up early. But they persevered and maintained their influence.”
South Korea pulled off an “extra-time miracle” at the last tournament. In the Round of 16 against Saudi Arabia, they were trailing 0-1 in stoppage time when Cho Kyu-sung scored a header in the ninth minute of extra time to level the score. The game went to extra time and then a penalty shootout, with Korea sneaking through to the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals continued against Australia. South Korea was trailing 0-1 going into the second half of extra time. In the fourth minute of extra time, Son Heung-min earned a penalty kick, which Hwang Hee-chan converted. In overtime, Son Heung-min scored the winning goal from a free kick to advance to the semifinals.
The nickname “zombie soccer” has been 바카라사이트 given to this kind of Klinsmann-esque soccer. South Korea’s never-say-die mentality helped them advance to the next round.
Li Weifeng is a “legend” who has played 112 matches for the Chinese national team. During his career, he also played for Suwon Samsung in the K League, where he received a lot of applause for his performances. The Chinese national team has its share of detractors, and Li emphasized the importance of investing in the league, saying, “There is no point in having a national team if you can’t raise the level of the league.”
Throughout the Asian Cup, Chinese media outlets and Chinese fans have been busy criticizing and mocking Korean soccer. However, Li Weifeng admired South Korean soccer’s results.