KASHIMA, JAPAN – JULY 22: Kangin Lee #8 of Team South Korea reacts during the Men’s First Round … [+]<\/span> Group B match between New Zealand and Republic of Korea during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kashima Stadium on July 22, 2021 in Kashima, Japan. (Photo by Hector Vivas – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span>
Two weeks ago, Paris Saint-Germain\u2019s attacking midfielder Lee Kang-in was playing against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League. This week, he is up against a striker who plays for Japan\u2019s University of Tsukuba.
It could be the biggest game of Lee\u2019s career.
South Korea\u2019s under-23 team face Japan in the gold medal match at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games on Saturday evening local time.
That match might not get much attention outside of the countries involved, but for South Korea\u2019s soccer players, winning a gold medal would give them a vital exemption from a career-disrupting spell in the armed forces.
South Korean men have to enlist in the military during their twenties, usually for 18 months. Some professional players can do this service by playing for Gimcheon Sangmu (formerly Sangju Sangmu), the local armed forces team. But even this is a huge disruption for players in Europe, who have to join another K League club first so they can be loaned to Sangmu, and this often spells the end of their careers in Europe.
Some South Koreans, like Danish side Midtjylland\u2019s Cho Gue-sung, who scored twice against Ghana in the 2022 World Cup, try to play for Sangmu at the start of their careers to avoid such disruption, but other players don\u2019t have that option.
With an Olympic medal or a gold medal at the Asian Games offering a route to exemption from full military duty, the Korean Football Association takes the Asian Games very seriously.
South Korea\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team is looking for its third gold in a row.
The previous gold came in Jakarta-Palembang in 2018.
Had South Korea not won gold in Indonesia,<\/a> Son Heung-min would have likely not won the Puskas Award or Premier League Golden Boot, Kim Min-Jae might not have got his move to Napoli or helped them win Serie A, and Wolverhampton Wanderers\u2019 top scorer this season Hwang Hee-chan would likely be playing in South Korea\u2019s K League right now.
Lee Kang-in is the star of South Korea\u2019s side this year, and could reach the very top if his career isn\u2019t disrupted by injury or military service. His popularity in Korea<\/a> is such that PSG added a tour date in the port city of Busan after he joined from La Liga side Mallorca in the summer.
Lee missed South Korea\u2019s first two games due to Champions League duty and is yet to make his mark in Hangzhou. Rather, South Korea\u2019s star has been VfB Stuttgart\u2019s Jeong Woo-young, who is the top scorer at the tournament with seven goals.
Other up-and-coming players like Hong Hyun-seok, who plays at Belgian side Gent, and Midtjylland\u2019s Lee Han-beom could also see their careers pan out completely differently depending on the color of medal around their necks at the end of Saturday\u2019s match.
South Korea\u2019s path to the final has been less rocky than it was five years ago.
In the group stage this year, head coach Hwang Sun-hong\u2019s side breezed past Bahrain, Thailand and Kuwait, scoring 16 goals without reply. After relatively comfortable wins over Kyrgyzstan and China in the knockout rounds, South Korea had a minor scare in the semi-finals against Uzbekistan, but saw out the game 2-1 after the Uzbeks were reduced to ten men in the second half.
South Korea now face a Japanese side who also have a 100% record, although with less convincing wins apart from their 4-0 demolition of Hong Kong in the semifinals.
Japan were South Korea\u2019s opponents in the final five years ago, and several players from that team, such as Kaoru Mitoma, Daizen Maeda and Ko Itakura have since gone on to have successful careers in Europe.
Like in 2018, Japan\u2019s team this year is younger and less experienced than South Korea. But that final five years ago was only decided after extra time, and this year\u2019s final, featuring the same bitter rivals, could be just as nerve-shredding.<\/p>\n