Kim Eun-joong’s ‘Captain’ Lee Seung-won (Gangwon FC) surpassed ‘Senior’ Lee Kang-in (Mallorca) and set a new record for the most points of attack by a Korean player in FIFA competitions. In addition, he was also honored with the World Cup Bronze Ball under the age of 20 (U20).스포츠토토
Lee Seung-won scored an equalizer from a penalty kick in the 24th minute of the second half when Korea trailed Israel 0-1 in the 2023 U20 World Cup 3rd and 4th place match held at La Plata Stadium in Argentina on the 12th (Korean time). With this, Lee Seung-won recorded 3 goals and 4 assists, surpassing Lee Kang-in (2 goals and 4 assists), who received the Golden Ball (MVP) as runner-up in the 2019 Polish tournament. He is the third player to score three goals in the U20 World Cup after Shin Yeon-ho (1983) and Kim Min-woo (2009).
Even before the opening of this tournament, Lee Seung-won’s awareness was close to ‘unknown’ compared to Lee Kang-in. Four years ago, Lee Kang-in was already a promising prospect who made his La Liga debut in Spanish professional football, and Lee Seung-won was the first to be selected for his age group national team. Although he joined Gangwon in December of last year, he only played in the K4 League (4th Division) and has yet to make his K League 1 debut.
However, he showed the aspect of a ‘dead ball specialist’ by writing all 4 assists in this tournament as set pieces (3 corner kicks, 1 free kick) and scoring 2 out of 3 goals as penalty kicks.
Lee Seung-won, who led the ‘One Team’ by holding the center as the captain, held the Bronze Ball in his arms at the award ceremony of this tournament. It is the 3rd MVP following the Golden Ball and Silver Ball. It is the third Korean male player to win individual awards at FIFA-sponsored World Cups, following 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup Bronze Ball winner Hong Myung-bo and Ulsan Hyundai manager Lee Kang-in. In women’s soccer, Yeo Min-ji (Kyungju Hansuwon) led the U17 World Cup championship in 2010 and won the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe (top scorer), and Ji So-yeon (Suwon FC) won the Silver Ball and Silver Shoe (2nd in scoring) at the U20 World Cup in the same year. received.
After the game, Lee Seung-won gave credit to his teammates, saying, “It was thanks to the sacrifice and help of my teammates that I was able to bring about such good results.” “I will show you more progress in the future as much as I have won such a good title,” he said. “I played without regret (even though I lost today). My colleagues think so too. He said, ‘Let’s raise our heads and return to Korea with confidence’.”
Cesare Casadei (Reading), who scored 7 goals and led Italy to second place, received the Golden Ball along with the Golden Shoe. The Silver Ball went to Uruguay’s Allan Maturo.