After the Olympics (2)
After the Olympics (2)
072
The power of Spain's Golden Generation, having consecutively conquered the Euro U-17, U-19, and the Youth U-20 World Cup, was astonishing.
To think they made it all the way to the finals with a squad that was practically a B-team, save for a few players.
After the invisible war of nerves between the coaches ended, we sat in our assigned seats and waited for the interview to begin.
The Finals Media Day wasn't held separately for each team, but was a joint interview conducted at the same place and time.
Of course, there was an order.
Spain went first for the interview.
"This is Conut Walter from the BBC. Coach Unai Simon. First of all, congratulations on reaching the finals."
"Thank you."
The Spanish coach replied indifferently.
"Spain advanced to the main tournament as the runner-up in the group, and since then, you have suffered only one defeat leading up to the finals. That sole defeat was against Korea. How do you feel about meeting the team that handed Spain its only loss in the finals?"
"It's good."
The Spanish coach answered briefly, stroked his prickly beard for a moment, and continued.
"As I said in a previous interview, I was looking forward to meeting Korea again. Our players were, too. We were not at our best during the group stage, and we will prove that in this match."
"This is Catalina from Onda Cero. After losing 3:0 to Korea in the group stage, you said, 'It wasn't the team that lost, it was me.' Could you explain that in detail?"
"It is just as I said. That defeat was merely my mistake as a coach, not a defeat for our players. I will prove that in this final match."
Listening to the interpreter translate his words, I couldn't help but think he was incredibly shameless.
A loss is a loss; how are the coach and players separate?
This time, a Korean reporter raised their hand.
"I'm curious about what you think of the Korean team."
"First, I would like to congratulate the Korean team for reaching the finals. After the group stage, some people criticized us for losing to a weak team like Korea. But they were wrong. Korea is by no means weak. Korea has brilliantly refuted those who engage in baseless criticism with their skills. I will state clearly here: Korea is strong. Very solid, and very combative. That is why they were able to make it to the finals."
The coach, who had been lost in thought while drinking water, opened his mouth again.
"There were some hardships, but I am happy to have reached the finals. But above all, I am happy that I can face Korea again. We were not at our best in the group stage. If Korea comes out thinking of us as we were then, they will be in for a rude awakening. The moment the final match begins, we will overwhelm Korea."
What a pathetic guy to the end.
That was my only thought as I looked at the determined-looking Spanish coach. Overwhelm us or not, anyone can talk big.
After a few more questions, the final question came up.
"Then, Coach. I would like to ask what you think about Hong Min-jun, who scored a hat-trick against your team in the group stage and is currently leading the scoring rankings."
"Hong Min-jun, you say."
Hearing my name, I stared blankly, and the Spanish coach glanced at me.
"That player is truly unpredictable. When I first analyzed him while preparing for the match against Korea, he was clearly a half-baked player with strengths only in dribbling breakthroughs. But at some point, I saw him making key passes well, and in the last match, his movement itself had changed."
"Are you saying that Hong Min-jun is a genius, as people claim?"
"I don't know. Whether he was hiding his skills or growing in real-time. If he was hiding it strategically, I would applaud the player's attitude for well-restraining the desire to show off the coaching staff's strategy and his own power. But if... if he grew in real-time while playing the game... he is, without a doubt, a genius."
"Thank you for the answer. This time, I would like to ask Jorge. What do you think of Hong Min-jun?"
"A genius. He is a genius. He is definitely a genius."
"More than you?"
"Not quite. Because when you're at a lower level, you can grow in real-time by playing high-level matches. That's why his growth rate was so steep. But he has now reached a level similar to mine. Although he is still a little lacking. So his growth rate will slow down. But that is no reason to diminish his genius. Isn't that right? Among the countless players playing the same game, is there any player who has developed like him?"
The final stage, the match against Spain, was a slugfest.
As expected of the final match with a gold medal on the line, both teams went all out.
Spain had their best 11 with no injuries or card issues, while our team unfortunately had Oh Pyo-sik-sunbae out due to injury.
The silver lining was the return of Kim Dae-seong-sunbae, who had missed the last match due to a suspension.
Kim Dae-seong-sunbae, who had unintentionally saved his stamina by resting during the Japan match, injected vitality into the midfield, but there were simply too many players who had already drained themselves in the Japan match.
Thanks to Kim Dae-seong-sunbae running around like crazy, we were at least able to keep up with Spain's tempo and create a fierce battle until the first half, but he couldn't do it alone.
Jorge's performance was particularly dazzling; if it wasn't a lie that his condition was bad in the last match against Spain, today's Jorge was truly astonishing.
'Holy shit... is that even human?'
It feels like he's even better than me, and I have a status window.
He's the same age as me, so what kind of monster is he? What's even more maddening is that there are more monsters like that in the world. Just in Spain alone, aren't there two more peers who are evaluated as being on the same level as Jorge?
My complacency burned away, and I ran until I felt like throwing up, recording one goal alongside Jorge, allowing us to finish the first half at 1:1.
However, the second half began after halftime.
Perhaps the 15-minute break was poison. The fatigue I hadn't noticed while running fiercely surged up as the tension eased during the break, and our team collapsed quickly in the second half.
But this was the same for the Spanish players.
Spain had a tighter schedule than us after advancing as the group runner-up, and they had been constantly grinding their starting members by facing strong opponents like Brazil and France in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Since Olympic soccer inherently has a small squad and a tight schedule, everyone is bound to be exhausted by the time they reach the finals.
Our team and Spain did their best despite being exhausted.
We were fired up by the high of being in the finals, and Spain was burning with a desire for revenge to make up for the humiliation of a 3:0 defeat to an Asian team, so we traded blows for a long time.
A moment came when even mental fortitude couldn't hold out, and cases of missing even simple passes began to occur.
Not just passes, but trapping, dribbling, and even legs giving out while chasing the ball, causing players to fall.
Simple mistakes that you wouldn't expect from pros occurred repeatedly, creating a close match in a different sense.
Originally, in offense, you can fail 10 times and succeed once and it's a success, while in defense, you can succeed 10 times and fail once and it's a failure. In a game where mistakes are frequent, a defender's mistake is more fatal than an attacker's.
While Jorge and I committed several errors, we both succeeded in scoring consecutively by taking advantage of the mistakes made by both teams' defenses, and with Jorge scoring 2 goals and 1 assist and me scoring 2 goals, the game ended in a 3:4 victory for Spain.
It was a disappointing defeat with the gold medal right in front of us, but after the game, the players from both teams were unexpectedly harmonious.
The media's evaluation wasn't bad either. Well... 7 goals were scored, so the viewers must have had fun. Above all, didn't the aces of both teams run wild spectacularly?
Spain finally recovered the pride that had been scratched by the crushing defeat in the group stage, and although we unfortunately missed the gold medal, we proved our skills by fighting a slugfest with performance on par with Spain on the final stage.
It was a win-win for both sides, in a way.
Perhaps that's why the atmosphere after the game was warm, and the interview immediately following it ended smoothly with well-wishes exchanged.
All that was left was to return home... or so I thought, but the return was postponed.
"Other teams from our country are all returning home, so why are we staying?"
Although there are some athlete squads that stay until the closing of the Olympics even if they are eliminated midway through their events, Korea usually returns home immediately upon elimination.
We were late to return because we made it to the finals, but since the final match was over, I thought we would naturally return home, but they told us to stay longer.
"You guys need to receive your silver medals. Are you not going to attend the awards ceremony?"
"Ah... right."
"And since you're attending the awards ceremony anyway, they said to attend the closing ceremony too."
That's how the free time came about.
I, who had been lazing around in the accommodation, decided to make good use of this spare time.
"Sunbae. Yoon-hyeok-sunbae."
"Why."
"Are you busy?"
"No."
I started by seducing Yoon-hyeok-sunbae, who was sprawled out after burning everything he had in the finals.
"You're bored, right, Sunbae?"
"What are you trying to do again?"
"Ahem."
"...Women?"
"......."
A silent conversation exchanged through eye contact passed between us.
"How about... our trio, shall we get together once more?"
"Trio, you say. We're sworn brothers."
Sworn brothers, my foot.
You spilled everything as soon as the Coach caught us.
I formed a new trio, including Seol Yo-han-sunbae in place of Oh Pyo-sik-sunbae, who had unfortunately dropped out due to injury.