The "dominant" achievements of the new coach of Vietnam U22 Lee Young-jin during his playing days
While still playing, Mr. Lee Young-jin, assistant coach Park Hang-seo and will lead U22 Vietnam at SEA Games 30, was not "afraid" of any opponent, no matter how difficult they were.
According to VnExpress, assistant Lee Young-jin of coach Park Hang-seo, who has just been assigned the responsibility of leading the Vietnam U22 team to participate in the 30th SEA Games, has always been considered a silent hero of Vietnamese football in recent times.
His calmness at work helps Mr. Lee a lot in "reading" his opponents. The 55-year-old expert always ignores stories off the field to give coach Park Hang-seo "the fastest advice possible". At the U23 Asian Cup finals and ASIAD 2018, the Vietnamese team made many precise substitutions, bringing the overall victory, with the main credit going to assistant Lee Young-jin.
Not many people know that the qualities that coach Lee Young-jin possesses were all forged during his illustrious career. When he was still playing, midfielder Lee was only 1m71 tall, quite small compared to the average Korean player and world football. Therefore, the Korean football star was forced to find a way to fight opponents who were always half a head taller than him.
In an era where physical play prevailed, Lee had to learn to cover the ball, be neat with his first touch and read situations quickly, just like David Silva does now. Above all, he couldn’t afford to lose his temper, because there was no point in going toe-to-toe with big-boned opponents.
In the 1990s, Lee Young-jin was a big name in Korean football, and a mainstay of the national team in the early 1990s. He started in Korea's opening match against Belgium in the 1990 World Cup group stage. Four years later, he was named in the starting lineup for Korea in all three group stage matches of the 1994 World Cup.
The Korean team made a breakthrough in the tournament in the US when they held Bolivia to a 0-0 draw, and most importantly, forced Spain to share points despite being two goals down. Facing world football legends like Fernando Hierro or Luis Enrique..., Lee was not afraid at all. He was especially trusted by coach Kim Ho and remained on the field until the end.
With the experience accumulated during the years of competition, along with a lot of tactical knowledge when working with coach Park Hang-seo, we have the right to hope that Mr. Lee Young-jin will help the Vietnamese players bring home the first SEA Games gold medal - an achievement that the country's football has been waiting for for many years.
