"There's no guarantee after a year"...Lee Jae-sung dreams of the 3rd World Cup with consistency
"There's no guarantee after a year"...Lee Jae-sung dreams of the 3rd World Cup with consistency
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Lee Jae-sung (Mines), the "trustman" of the national team, who helped Korean soccer advance to the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time, is burning his will to play in the World Cup finals for the third time.
Lee Jae-sung attended a pre-press conference for the final 10th game of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Kuwait at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 9th and said, "I am grateful to be challenging myself with the goal of participating in the World Cup finals. If I started playing soccer, I also dream of participating in the World Cup finals for the third time as it is a stage that everyone dreams of."
Lee Jae-sung started in place of the national team's "captain" Son Heung-min (Tottenham), who was excluded from the list in the ninth away game of the third qualifying round against Iraq on the 6th (Korea Standard Time), and led South Korea to a 2-0 complete victory.
Lee Jae-sung, who also plays a key role in his team, Mainz, Germany, did his part by silently coming into the national team's call-up during the World Cup qualifiers, including the Iraq match, and contributed to the finals by popping a "shot" when necessary.
"I think the only thing I'm confident about is consistency," he said. I'm not better than anyone else, but I try to help the team a lot with consistency, but I think I can continue to come to the national team because the coaches like it," he said humbly.
"The motivation is to be able to be with the best players. I am grateful and honored to be able to come to the national team every single call-up and every single moment," he said.
Lee Jae-sung's third World Cup finals following Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 seem to be close as he has played a significant role in taking the center stage both inside and outside the ground.
Still, Lee Jae-sung flatly said, "There is no guarantee that I will be here a year later. No one has that."
"It's my career that I don't know what will happen. I can participate in the World Cup only when I show my best efforts, ability and performance," he said. "First of all, luck will come only when the dedication and attitude toward the team that Coach Hong Myung-bo emphasizes are well prepared. I will not be satisfied with the present and will continue to prepare well in my team for the rest of the year."
It is a priority for Lee Jae-sung to play a good home game against Kuwait at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 10th to achieve the "beauty of the end" of the third qualifying round.
Lee Jae-sung said, "I thank the fans for supporting the team until dawn to win the away game against Iraq. After hard work, we won the difficult away game and secured a valuable berth to the finals, so the atmosphere of the national team is better than ever." 토토사이트
"After the match against Iraq, (Son) Heung-min reminded me of how important finishing was, reminding me that he lost the last match of the final qualifying round four years ago in the away match of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," he said. "There were not many home games wins in this third qualifying round, but I want to make sure to win tomorrow and repay the fans."