Gangwon captain Yoon Seok-young, 34, praised the performances of the 2000s generation, who have stood out early this season, after the team’s 2-1 win over Suwon FC on Children’s Day in the 11th round of the K League One.
In the 36th minute of the match, trailing 0-1, a cross from Yoon Seok-young, born in 1990, was met with a desperate rush by Cho Jin-hyuk, born in 2000. His thrilling debut goal tied the game, and in second-half stoppage time, Jung Jung-min (2001) scored his second consecutive goal to give Gangwon a 2-1 victory. The victory, which snapped a two-game losing streak, was their fourth win in the final round-robin game of the season, taking them to 15 points and fourth place in the league.
Yoon celebrated the 15th anniversary of his professional debut in March, having made his first appearance in a Jeonnam Dragons jersey as a 19-year-old in 2009. In 2012, he won a bronze medal at the London Olympics as part of Hong Myung-bok, and in 2013, he became the first Korean defender to join the English Premier League (EPL) Queens Park Rangers. Yoon, who has been playing for Gangwon for five seasons (2019, 2021-2024) since returning to the K League in 2018, already has two goals and two assists this season, including a left-footed goal against Daejeon and a free-kick wonder goal against Daegu. He has the best chemistry with Kangwon’s young guns. “(Cho) Jin-hyuk put it in so well. 안전놀이터 추천 I was able to assist because my teammates put it in so well, and I wasn’t really greedy for the goal, but it went in strangely well,” he smiled.
“Before the season, they said we were in the first relegation zone”
Yoon said of Gangwon’s early fourth-place finish. It’s very encouraging that we’re in fourth place after the first round robin,” he said. “It’s still too early to say that we’ve achieved something because we’re still a team with potential to grow,” he added, looking forward to the next round. With 19 goals and 20 conceded in 11 games, Gangwon has scored the second most goals and conceded the most goals among the 12 teams in the K League 1, second only to Ulsan.
When asked what’s different about Gangwon this year, Yoon said, “Last year, we had a new coach, Yoon Jung-hwan, and we needed time to stabilize the team and strengthen our organization. From this year’s winter training, we focused on how to release the offense from the back buildup. We got better at that part of the game, and we scored more goals as we found gaps in the opponent’s defense.” “Coach, he prepares a lot of offensive tactics and talks a lot about how to be offensive even though I’m a defender. I still have a lot to learn as a defender. That’s why I’m scoring a lot,” he explained. “The newcomers Yago, (Lee) Sang-heon, and (Yang) Min-hyuk, who was born in 2006, are also scoring well, and we have a lot of goals coming from younger players like Jung Min-jeong and Cho Jin-hyuk, which is very positive,” he added. “I’m the captain, but we have a lot of young players, so I often say, ‘You guys are the center.’ I try to instill a sense of pride in the team, and the juniors have responded well to that. I am grateful to them as a team.”
As a member of the bronze medal team at the London Olympics
It was painful for Korean soccer to miss out on a ticket to Paris after 40 years, but he understood the pain as a fellow player. “It really hurts, and the fans are heartbroken,” he said, “but with the change to the U-23 Asian Cup, there are more variables. In our time, we had the Asian final qualifiers, just like the Olympics and World Cup. If you made a mistake in one game, you had another chance, but not in a tournament. As coach Hwang Sun-hong said, we need to prepare more systematically.”
Yoon echoed the words of “Seoul Captain” Ki Sung-yong, who said, “It’s not that Korean soccer has regressed just because we missed out on qualifying for Paris. “As the culture and system of football changed, I was worried about whether we were doing a good job or whether the color of Korean football was fading, but when I look at the younger players now, they are bolder and better. Not only our team, but other teams have young players like Lee Seung-joon (Seoul) and Kang Sang-yoon (Suwon). They are not intimidated and are technically good. I totally agree with the statement that Korean soccer hasn’t regressed,” he said emphatically.
On his way home to his nine-month-old son with three points on Children’s Day, the captain’s step was light. “I’m happy to fulfill the promise I made to my wife and son that I would come home with a win on Children’s Day,” he said. “I’m also very grateful to the fans who came to support us in the rain. 토토사이트 모음 We were able to win thanks to the Narsha fans. They are the ones who motivate us to go one step further when we are struggling. I will play harder for these fans. I ask for more support from them,” he said.