The British daily Guardian selects and announces “Next Generation” 60, which selects the world’s best soccer prospects every year. The 2023 version was released on the 11th (local time), and Korean players were included in the 60 people for the first time in a long time.
The main character is Kim Myung-joon (17), a Pohang Steelers youth and captain of the U-17 national team. Born in 2006, Kim Myung-joon stood out in June by leading South Korea to the runner-up with four goals, the second-highest scorer, at the 2023 U-17 Asian Cup in Thailand. “The Guardian” said, “I was impressed by the maturity of many aspects of the U-17 Asian Cup. Kim Myung-joon, who is agile and has a good sense of passing and shooting, is also a captain who leads by example and is respected by his teammates, he said.
Kim Myung-joon is the fifth Korean player to be named in the “Next Generation” selected by the “Guardian” for the ninth year since 2014. Seo Jung-hyun was selected in 2014, Lee Seung-woo (Suwon FC) in 2015, and Kim Jung-min (Busan I-Park) in 2016, and Lee Kang-in (Valencia at the time) was selected in 2018. Kim Myung-joon was named after a five-year absence after Lee Kang-in.
Since “Guardian”‘s “Next Generation” targets promising soccer players around the world, most of the players who are currently “world stars” have gone through the list. They are Erling Holan (Man City) in 2017, Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Lee Kang-in in 2018, Rodrigo (Real Madrid), and Hvitsa Hvaratshelia (Napoli). Japan’s Nishigawa Jun and Uzbekistan’s Yasurbek Yarolidinov, who faced Hwang Sun-hong at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which closed on the 8th, are selected players in 2019, respectively.
According to the profile of the Korea Football Association, the role model of Kim Myung-joon, who is 1m 83, is Harry Kane (Bayern Munich). He participated in the 2023 GROUND.N K League Youth Championship in July and said, “I originally liked Kane, I watch the video and try to imitate him a lot. People around me tell me a lot. I hear a lot that it’s Kane,” he said.
Kim Myung-jun also said, “It has been my dream since I was young to play overseas. I felt a little far away, but after going to the Asian Cup, I had hope. So I think we’re a little closer,” he said, without hiding his ambition to enter Europe.. 온라인카지노
Kim Myung-joon is scheduled to play in the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia in November as a member of the U-17 team led by head coach Byun Sung-hwan. In this competition, leading European scouts visit the stadium to discover “hidden jewels.”
“European players have good physicality,” Kim Myung-joon said. So I want to show you that I’m never pushed back in the physical aspect. I want to beat my opponent with the technical features we are good at,” he said.