Chapter 340 – Myth (1)

340

『Writing a new history of Korea!』
『Korea, ‘Invincible Armada’ Defeat Spain and go to the finals!!』
“Overtime and even a penalty shootout? A fierce scene』

South Korea’s victory brought a huge wave.
It’s not just because Korea made it to the finals.

Isn’t it Korea, led by an outstanding player named Hong Min-jun, and advanced to the semifinals in the last World Cup?
There are not too many predictions that they will really advance to the finals, at least with the exception of Koreans, but still, the team was highly evaluated in terms of ‘probability of advancing to the finals’.

Even more so, when they showed good performance from the preliminaries and settled in the semifinals, Korea was highly evaluated, as it was openly predicted that their opponent could beat even that “Golden generation” Spain.

Of course, Korea’s advance to the final was ‘pretty’ surprising, but it wasn’t an unexpected blast.
Rather, the semifinals of 2002, the semifinals of the last World Cup, or the World Cup finals of Argentina, a truly sensational team, surprised the world even more.

The thing that surprised the world more than the achievement of Korea’s advancement to the final was—

『Is the best striker the best goalkeeper? ‘Goalkeeper’ Hong Min-joon’s amazing performances』
『”Mad El Loco” Jose Rene reminds me of guitar!』
『Scorpion Kick and Panenka! How far is Hong Min-joon’s eccentricity?

This is what Hong Min-joon showed as a goalkeeper.

It is understandable to wear goalkeeper gloves in the middle of the second half.
To make matters worse, the goalkeeper was injured and the replacement card was dropped, so one of the field players had to take over as goalkeeper.

In fact, many field players wear goalkeeper gloves because of this problem.
Famous players such as John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Dani Alves, Jose Enrique, John O’Shea, Alvaro Arbeloa, Phil Zakiella, and even Harry Kane, regarded as England’s best goal scorer, have played as a goalkeeper.

So, I can somehow understand Hong Min-joon’s wearing goalkeeper gloves in an ‘unavoidable’ situation, aside from the fact that he had to entrust the goalkeeper to one of the best dribblers and goalscorers of all time… Since then, his performance has made the mouths of everyone in the world who were talking loudly drop open.

Starting with Rodri’s fantastic shot with a super save, Igita’s proprietary scorpion kick, synonymous with mad goalkeepers, left everyone speechless.

In addition, as the 5th kicker of the shootout with the top of the dragon, Panenka.

That moment, mixed with a bit of exaggeration, is said to be the moment when the whole world was excited.

Hong Min-joon’s play, which is described as madness beyond extraordinaryness, surprises, amazes, vibrates, and trembles all over the world—it’s the real version of Gukppong TV.

And there was a place where the reaction of foreigners unfolded in real time, which can only be seen on the national television. It was the Argentine players who were watching the match.

* * *

The semifinal match between Argentina and Germany was held the day before Korea vs. Spain.
After a battle of dragons and tigers, Argentina succeeded in advancing to the final.

Since Messi’s “Last Dance” In 2022, Argentina has repeatedly failed to win the World Cup.
No. Not to mention the championship, even the World Cup final is the first time in 16 years.

Is it the aftermath of the birth of a great player who will go down in the history of football, Lionel Messi?
The Argentine football world, which had as much potential as Won Ki-ok, failed to produce players who reached the ‘top’ level and had to suffer many times in the World Cup.

The first time was to advance to the round of 16, which could barely be called the finals, and the first time was to be knocked out in the group stage due to being eliminated in the preliminary round. The rest 1? Since they failed to pass the regional qualifiers, they did not even qualify for the World Cup.

And 2038, 16 years later.
At a time when Lionel Messi’s memoirs were reaching their limits, Argentina miraculously succeeded in advancing to the World Cup finals.

“It’s the final! In 16 years, it’s the first final since Messi!!”

It was natural for the Argentine people to fall in joy at the thrilling achievement.
To such an extent that President Sergio Kisilov declared his interim holiday.

However, there was someone who kept his cool even at this time when Argentina was excited, and he was the one who led Argentina to the World Cup finals.

It was Argentinian coach Marco Borges, who had been given the modifier ‘master’ before he knew it.

“Calm down. It’s nice to beat Germany and advance to the final, but our goal is to win. We haven’t won yet just one step… We have only one step left. Do you want to stop at a supporting role with one step left to win the championship?”

Aiming to advance to the round of 16… The man who led Argentina, whose “Realistic goal” Was a “Realistic goal,” To advance to the quarterfinals with a slightly higher score, was cold-hearted.

“I cannot be satisfied with a runner-up. I can’t be satisfied unless I win! The moment we should truly be happy is not the runner-up! There is only victory, the moment of victory! Joy is an emotion suitable only for the moment when a victory is confirmed. It’s not too late to win and rejoice, fools!”

Argentine players enthusiastically responded to the cool-headed master’s remarks.

“You’re right! Our goal is to win, win!!”
“Sorry Boss.”
“Boss is right. It is not yet time to rejoice.”

Marco Borges said with a hearty smile at the enthusiastic response from the players.

“For now, put your joy aside. This is just a bit of a respite, so there’s nothing to be sorry about. Now we have to face the enemy… It’s time to watch the match where our final opponent will be decided. Watch and observe the enemy. Will you remember we are predators Find the weakness, the weak nape of the enemy we are going to bite off!”

The day after the match against Germany, all members of the Argentine national team, after a brief recovery exercise, gathered in a video room with a large beam projector to watch the match between Korea and Spain.

“Which one will win? It must be Spain, right?”
“Not sure! Think of the Korea you played against right before the World Cup. At most, they were guys who thought they could advance to the round of 16, weren’t they?”
“Hmm… I’ll have to keep an eye on Spain’s moves.”

When the World Cup was just around the corner, the Korea Football Association (KFA) invited Argentina.
Even a pre-arranged schedule was canceled by paying compensation instead, and Argentina and Chile were invited to a friendly match.

At that time, Korea’s ace Hong Min-jun was sidelined due to injury, but anyway, didn’t he win 4:1 against the best Korean member excluding Hong Min-jun?

Even that, he only conceded a goal by replacing the starting player in the second half, a game that would have won by a much larger margin if he had dealt with his full strength.

For Argentine players, Korea was remembered just that much.

“Don’t be alarmed. Korea is a team that has reached the quarterfinals. Even Hong Min-joon is there.”

So, despite the advice of coach Marco Borges, the players predicted Spain’s victory.

“But Boss. No matter how good Hong Min-joon is, what use is it when other players in Korea can’t support him?”
“You can see that in the game. How good is Hong Min-joon? How useful Korean players are.”

And that’s why I couldn’t help but be surprised while watching the game.

“Bird, is it tighter than I thought? It’s very intense.”
“Jorge is good too. But Hong Min-jun too… Surely…”
“Um… The Spaniards seem to have improved their organizational skills.”
“Was Korea that strong? At first, he seemed to have a hard time adapting to the tempo… Are you chasing the tempo of Spain right away? It’s much better than before.”

Spain’s excellent performance and Korea’s tight match.
And-

“Ow shack! What am I looking at?”
“Hong Min-jun is the goalkeeper!?”

In the middle of the second half, when Hong Min-jun appeared wearing goalkeeper gloves,

“What! Why are you good at it!!”
“Hong Min-joon did a really good job on this. Rodri got it right. How can you stop that easily…”
“Oh, that crazy bastard! A scorpion kick in the World Cup!”
“Puha, puhahaha! That’s completely different. Watch the goalkeeper dribble all the way to the opponent’s penalty box!”
“But I’m not really kidding. He’s good at saving.”

The Argentine staff and players, who laughed at the absurd sight and were amazed at the performance, finally witnessed it.

“Wow! I made a save, but it was a foul! If it were me, I would go crazy and not be able to move properly.”
“I’m worried about Hong’s mentality. After all, Spain will come up.”
“Mmm, what… ? Hey, is it a scorpion kick here too?”
“It’s real… He’s a real madman.”
“But why not… ? Did you play well again?”
“No way… No way, will Korea come up? No way… Pa, Panenka?”

In the meantime, Hong Min-joon’s interview was playing on the screen.

〈 Scorpion Kick? At first, young pressure… No, it’s because of the momentum and it’s pissed off during the penalty shootout.〉
〈 What is the reason for Panenka at the end… It’s just fun. Ke.〉

“Crazy… Totally crazy, that bastard… To play that lunatic El Loco?”

Hong Min-joon’s skill and madness made everyone tremble in fear and prepared for the match—

“That madman… ? I don’t think so at all… ?”
“Don’t be fooled by appearances! He is… It’s the devil.”

Finally on the day of the finals.
I had to tremble in fear when I saw Hong Min-joon with a beautiful face full of smiles.