Chapter 131 – Asian Qualifiers (1)

131

Right after the 7th round of the league, I headed straight to the airport.
The destination is Seoul, South Korea.
The reason for returning to Korea during the season is because I was finally selected for the national team for the first time.

Although he has always been on the national team’s standing army list, this is the first time he has been included in the 25-man call-up list. It was a pretty late debut considering the performance so far.

After first making a name for himself at the Olympics, did he not make a breakthrough on the European stage from Barcelona to Frankfurt? Even though he is in the second division, he plays only half a season, including the top scorer, league MVP, and even won the best 11th place.

Normally, if I had done this, I would have debuted as a member of the national team, but my debut was delayed due to various circumstances.

It’s not an “Adult affair” Like a clique or personal connection… In fact, I had been talking with the Livestock Cooperatives from early on about the issue of selecting the national team.

The first contact was right after the Olympics.
The Chukhyup hoped that my popularity as an Olympic star would lead to the adult national team, but at the time I was busy with the transfer.

The end of the transfer window is approaching, offers are pouring in, information is scarce.
Even after deciding on the team he wanted to sign with, he refused to be hired because of the tight schedule, such as fine-tuning contract conditions and medical tests, and the Livestock Cooperatives also understood the situation.

And the next A-match period was when I was in the middle of shitting in Barcelona.

He is suddenly tall and his balance is broken and he is struggling, so he makes his debut in an A match?
If a 20-year-old player called the future of Korean soccer debuted like that, it would be recorded as the worst national team debut in history, and not only me but also the Chukhyeop would get all the swear words.

So, the debut of the national team was postponed once again.

Afterwards, when I joined Frankfurt on loan and recovered my form and started to play a big role in the second half, my debut was canceled again with the EAFF E-1 Football Championship.

The EAFF E-1 Football Championship, also known as the East Asian Cup, is, as the name suggests, a small international tournament in which 10 member countries of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) participate.

It was usually held in July, but in order to prepare for this event, which was postponed to the end of the year due to the organizers’ circumstances, the national team in the second half was operated mainly by ‘domestic groups’, and I, an ‘overseas group’, was not convened.

Judging from my performance alone, it was only natural that I, who was on loan to Frankfurt at the time and was bombing the German second division, was selected.
Coincidentally, Japan or China is suitable for the showcase stage before the debut.

However, this tournament was not an international match day, which FIFA stipulated as ‘mandatory drafting’.

If it is not a match day, there is no compulsory drafting rule, which means that the club can reject the drafting. That is why the East Asian Cup was a competition focused on ‘domestic groups’ without ‘overseas groups’ from the beginning.

It’s funny that there is no compulsory drafting for a tournament recognized by FIFA, but since it’s a tournament run anyway, the National Federation of Livestock Cooperatives didn’t ask for drafting from ‘overseas’ in the first place. Of course, I, who was playing in Germany, didn’t get a call-up request either.

Well, even if the Chukhyeop asked for a loan, the club would have rejected it anyway.
At the time, I was writing a rental legend in Frankfurt.

There is no compulsory rule for a key player in a team that is fiercely competing for promotion to the first division and winning the Focal title, so would the club call them crazy?

I don’t know if it’s a Korean club or an Asian country participating in the East Asian Cup, but from Frankfurt’s point of view, the promotion competition for our team and the competition for the Pokal championship are important.

Or if Frankfurt was my team, I don’t know again.
A-match is a great opportunity to raise the player’s ransom, so you can play an active part in the national team and transfer at a higher price.

However, I was in a ‘rental’ status, and only the original team would be good if my ransom went up, so from Frankfurt’s point of view, I couldn’t help feeling any attraction to the national university.

It’s not even A match day, but the league and pokal schedules continue, so if you agree to the selection, the club’s leadership is crazy.

In the second half of that year, despite the performance of bombing the German second division, the national team debut had to promise the following with a call centered on the ‘domestic group’ to prepare for the East Asian Cup.

And earlier this year.
With the A-match friendly match scheduled, I wanted to finally debut in the national team.

I wanted to be drafted as soon as possible in the Livestock Cooperative, and I also wanted to debut on the national team, so I was wondering if I could be convened without incident… This time, there was an uproar in public opinion.

Last year’s transfer to Barcelona was also sluggish due to the ‘adaptation’ problem, but the young player needs to be given time to adapt to the new team.

Called the future of Korean football, he made a splendid entry into Barcelona, ​​but immediately fell into a slump, leaving many Korean football fans astonished.

At that time, all sorts of articles were circulating as the reason for the sluggish performance, but among them, the most frequent articles were in the tone of ‘failure to adapt overseas for a young player who signed his first professional contract’.

Surprised to see the chest growing up, surprised to see the lid of the pot, Korean soccer fans worried too much and created public opinion not to ruin the future of Korean soccer, while pressuring the Livestock Cooperative, so the selection was fuzzy.

… I never thought my shoveling would come back with a butterfly effect like this.
Anyway, the long-awaited and long-awaited debut match for the national team, which was repeatedly postponed after drinking water in succession, was the Asian final qualifier for the World Cup.

The Asian final qualifier is a point-based game in which the 12 countries that have advanced through the preliminaries are again divided into 2 groups A and B to compete for 4.5 tickets to the World Cup finals. Up on the 2nd

In the last game, the final qualifier, Game 10, the opponent is Iran, who is ranked first in the group with 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, with a difference of 1 point.

The problem is that China, the opponent in the ninth round of the final qualifying round, is aiming for second place in the group with 3 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses and 12 points.

‘So… ‘

1st place Iran — 5 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, 17 points
2nd Korea Republic — 5 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 16 points
3rd place China — 3 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, 12 points

I arranged it on a tablet to look good…

‘What. In fact, they advanced to the finals.’

After all, Korea is a gangster country limited to Asia.

Tickets are given to the finals up to the second place in each group, so if you don’t poop against China in the 9th game, you can easily advance to the finals.

‘I wanted to play an active part in the guillotine match where advancing to the finals was at stake… Too bad.’

The 9th match against China and the 10th match against Iran remained, but I thought it would be a game without steam as the 2nd place would be confirmed if there was no crushing defeat in the 9th match.

However,

“Hong Min-Jun!! Are you confident of participating in the match against China this time!?”
“I’m betting on victory in China. Let me know what you think!”
“I’d like to hear your impressions of the last defeat in China!”
“Do you think you can get revenge on China for overcoming the cold?”

As soon as they get off at Incheon International Airport, reporters are crazy.
… What? What about China?

Are you confident that you will beat Korea on the subject of China? Besides what? Did you lose when!?
Reflexively, ‘You lost to China?’ I was about to say something like that. I almost freaked out

So as not to cause controversy, I just said ‘thank you’ in moderation, got into the car prepared by Oh Harin, and searched for it.

‘… Oh My God. What is this?’

And she found out something shocking.
The fact that 2 of Korea’s 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in the final qualifiers were lost to Iran and China.

‘It’s absurd. Iran… That’s right. China? You lost to China?’

In Germany, the results of Korean matches are not reported on TV or in newspapers.
To find out, you have to watch the game or search for it personally, but of course, I didn’t look for the Asian qualifiers, knowing that I would smash them with the spirit of a king.

But what is the result… The rankings aren’t bad, but we lost to China.
More enticing,

“China has been arrogant.”

Tickets to the finals awarded to the 2nd place in the group.
However, from the third place in the group, they have to go through the playoffs. It is also with countries on other continents.

It’s not an Asian country, which is said to be the easiest among World Cup qualifiers, and it’s not that you have to go through playoffs with countries from other continents… Obviously, it was a tough schedule, so it was only natural that everyone struggled to avoid finishing third in the group.

But why is China third in the group?
What? 2nd place is Korea where we won? Besides, Korea’s last opponent is Iran?

Chinese kids say that they beat Korea once, and this time they beat Korea and go straight to the World Cup with second place in their group.

‘Wow sir… I’m sorry. The public certificate, the kids who did the certificate know Korea as a dick.’

Iran can.
Originally, Iran had a good grip on Korea, so there is an image of a Korean killer, and there are many cases where Korea struggles against Iran.

But China?
China~?

‘They seem to expect that if Korea wins in Game 9, Iran will win again… I can’t help but fuck.’

Yeah, it worked out better
It was regrettable that I would advance to the finals without incident, but this kind of true education stage has been prepared.

Coincidentally, the opponents were also Iran and China, who gave Korea two losses.
Go up to national ace in one shot.