“It reminded me of Zidane.”
After summoning French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane, Hwang In-beom (28) of Feyenoord is expected to play as the maestro in the match against Palestine. In order to penetrate the opponent team’s tight defense, Hwang must play again this time.
The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the sixth Group B match against Palestine at 11 p.m. on the 19th (Korea time) at Amman International Stadium in Jordan. If South Korea, which has been at the top of the group with five undefeated matches (4 wins and 1 draw), wins five consecutive games by beating Palestine, it will be closer to advancing to the World Cup finals.
Hwang In-beom, the national team’s midfield commander, is expected to take an important role in the match against Palestine without fail. With Park Yong-woo (Al-Ain) expected to be paired as a third-term midfielder, Hwang will be responsible for putting more passes into the offensive zone.
The opposing Palestinians seem more likely to admit the objective difference in power and come up with close defense tactics as they did last September. South Korea struggled to penetrate the Palestinians’ two-line defense on its home turf two months ago, and drew without a goal. As of now, Hong Myung-bo is the only team in the Palestinians who failed to defeat in the third qualifying round.
In order to avoid a similar pattern to the last face-off, Hwang In-beom needs a sharp pass and a cross that pokes forward. The Palestinians have marked South Korea’s strikers and second-line strikers tightly. In order for strikers to be able to relax around the Palestinian penalty box, sophisticated passes from third-line midfielders who are in charge of ball distribution are urgently needed.
If the Palestinians try to press forward intermittently, Hwang In-beom’s ability to coordinate the game, which will be most frequently checked, is expected to be the “key” to determine the game.
Hwang had two assists against Kuwait five days ago, displaying sharp sense of play. He scored a header goal for Oh Se-hoon (Machida Zelvia) with a blade-like right-footed cross, and helped Bae Joon-ho (Stock City) score with a sharp left-footed penetration pass. 스포츠토토
After the match against Kuwait, “captain” Son Heung-min (Tottenham) praised Hwang In-beom, saying, “I saw the Zidane video, and I remembered him.” Oh Se-hoon and Bae Joon-ho, who received the parcel pass, also pointed out him as the best player against Kuwait, saying, “I am grateful for In-beom’s assist.”
Hwang In-beom, who played in the match against Palestine in September, just arrived in Korea after completing the Feyenoord transfer process and played. Although his poor condition made him feel relatively less stable, he was also aggressive, delivering three key passes to his teammates.