Rising Star (1)
Rising Star (1)
065
[The National Team's Quarter-Final Opponent is the 'Super Eagles'!!]
—The Olympic men's football group stage has ended. Eight teams survived the fierce competition. Our South Korea's opponent is the African powerhouse, the 'Super Eagles', Nigeria.
Although the national team landed in the quarter-finals in 1st place in their group, smashing the stigma of being the 'Valley Generation' with their skills, a difficult match is expected against Nigeria. Nigeria, a traditional African powerhouse, may have advanced to the quarter-finals in 2nd place in their group, but considering they were in the same group as France, a favorite to win, they are by no means an easy opponent.
In their actual match against France, Nigeria showed an equal level of performance, but they had to concede 1st place in the group after a narrow defeat due to the performance of France's rising star, Gabriel Mendy, who is currently ranked 1st in scoring.
Nigeria, the quarter-final opponent blocking the national team's sprint toward the medal zone!
Ademola Lookman, who plays for Marseille in France, is considered the player to watch out for the most in this match against Nigeria.
What will be the secret plan to stop the 'Beast' Ademola Lookman, who relies on his overwhelming physicality! And what kind of performance will the crown prince of the Gong Jeon-seong squad, Hong Min-jun, put on!
The match between South Korea and Nigeria will be held at 4 PM local time on the 7th.
Eric Gerets, who had translated and skimmed through the Korean sports daily article on his smartphone, turned his gaze toward the stadium.
McDonald Jones Stadium, where the match between the Korean team in red uniforms and Nigeria in green uniforms is in full swing. As the game races toward the 20th minute of the second half, the match was flowing one-sidedly.
'Oh. Hong has the ball just in time.'
A long pass that accurately connects to a teammate running on the other side, smoothly slipping out from between the Nigerian players rushing in in a hurry.
'Overwhelming press resistance ability that allows him to continue to the next play even amidst the pressure of 2-3 players. The vision and calmness to check the other side of the field even in urgent situations. Accurate passing ability that connects right in front of a teammate in accordance with their speed as they dig into space.'
I've checked it several times, but it's still surprising.
'How did such a player come out of Asia? Come to think of it, Korea... Out-of-spec players have often come out of Korea.'
The first player that came to mind in Eric Gerets' memory was the player who was called the Brown Bomber in Germany.
That player, who became a legend of Frankfurt, was an outstanding player who was hard to believe came from Korea, a football wasteland that didn't even have a professional league.
Since then, players who exceeded expectations like Park Ji-sung, Son Heung-min, and Lee Kang-in have appeared, and this time, it seems another Korean is continuing that lineage.
The East Asian region, if not the periphery of the football world, is merely second-rate. Korea, which is not even the J-League that scouts watch due to cooperation with the German Bundesliga, is a region alienated from the mainstream interest of Europe.
Who would have known that a player who was unknown among the unknown until the Olympics would suddenly become the best rising star of this Olympics.
Eric Gerets smacked his lips.
'It's a shame, a real shame. If I had paid a little more attention to Korea, I could have snatched him up before the competition became this fierce.'
A gem is a gem no matter who looks at it.
Whether I look at it or someone else looks at it, there is no one who doesn't recognize that a gem is precious. However, it's different before the gem is revealed, before it's covered in mud and others realize its value.
And that was exactly what Eric Gerets did.
Preempting gems before they shine.
'Mr. Hong is exactly the kind of player who has our Barcelona DNA.'
Barcelona scout Eric Gerets received a call a few days ago from Mikel Merino, a reporter for El Mundo Deportivo, famous as a pro-Barcelona media outlet. A message saying he had discovered a player with Barcelona's DNA.
If that old man with a picky eye says he is a player with Barcelona DNA, it is truly high praise.
Eric Gerets, who happened to be in Australia to look at young players for the Olympics, did not ignore the advice of the experienced Mikel and visited the stadium where the Korea vs. Nigeria match was being held to check for himself.
"Oh! As expected, his press resistance ability in tight spaces is amazing. His press resistance ability is already at a European top-class level."
And the result of watching and checking his performance in person was surprising.
To think such a player was hidden!!
Furthermore, it wasn't just Hong Min-jun who stood out.
"Surprisingly, the other Korean players are quite good too? Let's see... Yoon... Hyeok? A friend with a difficult name. This friend has very high football intelligence. This friend also has about half of our Barcelona DNA. Ho. Seol Yo-han. This player is seasoned. Let's see... Hmm? He was a wild card. Too old. Oh ho! That player is also quite good?"
Of course, Hong Min-jun is the only one with the talent to play for Barcelona. At best, a player like Yoon Hyeok could possibly be a rotation player if polished well, but it wasn't worth using a NON-EU card just to thicken the squad.
"It would be a decent signing for a place like Germany, where the non-European quota is loose."
Above all, Korean players have cheap transfer fees.
And they are incredibly cheap.
It's not like the J-League, where they practically give them away if you show interest in a transfer, but the transfer fees for Korean players were incomparably cheaper than European players of the same skill, and what excited Eric Gerets more than that was Hong Min-jun's status.
"I can't believe it. That player is a free agent."
Hong Min-jun was an amateur playing in the university league, which is an amateur league!
It's a mystery why he is still an amateur when he is a player who shines brilliantly for anyone to see, to the point where I wonder if all the Korean scouts are blind.
"On the other hand... Nigeria is disappointing."
Ademola Lookman, the ace of the Super Eagles, who had gathered high expectations until just before the Olympics opened, was disappointing from start to finish.
He performed reasonably well in the group stage, but it was lacking compared to expectations, and in today's match, he is not showing any play that could turn the atmosphere around.
Of course, you cannot evaluate everything about a player based on one or two games.
Scouting is basically about making an evaluation by consistently observing for a few months at the shortest, or a few years at the longest. Since there are days when you're in bad condition or days when things just don't work out while playing football, player evaluation should be viewed over a long term... but in Eric's view, Ademola Lookman was not a very attractive player.
Even if he had performed as expected, he wouldn't have caught his eye anyway.
And that makes sense; when you are next to a dazzlingly shining gem, would your eyes go to a small piece of jewelry... no, to a pebble on the street?
However, the problem is that Eric is not the only one attracted to the brilliance of the brightly shining gem.
Olympic quarter-final match.
Since there were not even 4,000 spectators, which is less than a quarter of the capacity, in the McDonald Jones Stadium, which can accommodate over 30,000 spectators, Eric could spot several football officials with shining eyes here and there.
'That guy is Dmitry Maslennikov. Russia is... not a competitor. No matter how much they covet him, the player would never choose Russia.'
He is poking his head around like a hyena that has caught a scent, but there would be no young gun who would head to the Russian league, which was called a prison without bars in the past and whose economy is now even shattered.
Eric coolly ignored the Russian club scouts, but there was someone he could never ignore.
'Damn it. Did they come from Chelsea too? Bob Arber. What an annoying guy. ...Is that Kieran Scott next to him? The Rusted Arsenal has also caught the scent.'
When Eric Gerets frowned upon discovering the scouts from Chelsea and Arsenal, there was also someone who was making a face while looking at him.
"The smelly Catalan bastard has come too."
Mauro Bianchessi, the chief youth development officer for Real Madrid, frowned heavily while looking at Barcelona's scout, Eric Gerets.
He had come all the way to Australia in person to check the performance of Spain's pride, Jorge, whose transfer to Madrid is considered certain, but Mauro Bianchessi, who had been in a mental breakdown while watching in real-time as they were miserably defeated by the Korean team out of the blue, realized before long that this was an opportunity.
"That player suits our Los Blancos uniform. To have an appearance that would work in Europe, unlike an Asian... his marketability must be enormous. I can already clearly see the general manager jumping with excitement. Plus, that skill. With that level of talent at only 20 years old, he would be enough for Madrid's rotation with just a little polishing."
The past few decades of competing with Barcelona over the Asian market.
That player named Hong Min-jun could be a wonderful move to seize the hegemony of the Asian market that they have been fighting over for a long time.
"Hmm. Korean players are better than I thought. Their fundamentals are solid, and their tactical understanding is excellent. However, their press resistance ability is lacking, and they lack creativity. At this rate, it would be hard to play in La Liga."
Mauro Bianchessi, who was naturally evaluating other players on the field while observing Hong Min-jun, gave his attention to a few players.
"At least the player named Yoon Hyeok is not bad. This player is better than Ademola Lookman."
But just to that extent.
That level is not enough to qualify to wear the Los Blancos uniform.
Mauro Bianchessi, holding his phone, called somewhere.
The connection with the other party is made before the signal rings even twice.
"It's me."
—Who is this. Isn't it our proud Los Blancos chief youth development officer, Bianchessi!
A familiar voice.
It was Luis Campos, who played for Real Madrid during his active days with Mauro Bianchessi, and rose to the position of general manager after going through a career as an administrator after retirement.
"Listen. I've discovered a very good player."
—Hmm? Where are you right now?
"Australia."
—Oh! Australia! Then it must be the Olympics. Didn't you go to see Jorge?
"Of course I saw Jorge too. And I also found a new star who flattened Jorge's nose."
—...A new star? Gabriel Mendy... is not new. Is it Italy's Lorenzo? Or Brazil's Riquelme?
Mauro Bianchessi let out a satisfied laugh at the appearance of him not having a clue at all.
"Do you know Korea?"
—I know it if it's the South.
"An interesting player came out of there."
—Interesting. To what extent?
Mauro Bianchessi answered firmly in a voice that had become much more serious.
"On par with Jorge. Or even more."