▲ Lee Young-jun
"I wanted to join them quickly as well, but my teammates kept reaching out to me. Of course, it felt good."
A new source of energy has been added to the national team, which advanced to the knockout stage as the group leader, avoiding a difficult path and gearing up in earnest for the championship.
This is the story of tall European-based forward Lee Young-jun (Grasshopper), whose arrival was delayed due to circumstances at his club.
Lee, who played in the second match of Group D in the men's football tournament at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games against Saudi Arabia held today (September 22) at the Mizuho Park Rugby Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, contributing to a 2-0 victory, jokingly said after the match, "Even when I couldn't join the team quickly, the players and the coach kept communicating with me. (Kim) Ji-soo and (Bae) Jun-ho contacted me so much that it was actually a bit exhausting."
Lee, who plays for Grasshopper Club Zurich in the Swiss Super League, was included in the final Asian Games roster and was originally scheduled to join around September 14, the day before the first match against Qatar, but his entry was delayed due to club circumstances.
The club, which had initially agreed with the Korea Football Association on the timing of his joining, failed to give a definite answer amid variables such as a change in club leadership, leaving him to finally set foot in the national team just a day before the second group match.
Lee confessed, "The club kept saying, 'You need to wait a few more days. We will talk with the higher-ups,' and that waiting time was so tough for me. The club's situation wasn't good either, and both my club and the national team are truly important places to me, so I spent my time hectically communicating with both sides."
Right upon arrival, without fully adjusting to the jet lag or recovering from travel fatigue, Lee was immediately deployed onto the pitch the next day and played for about 14 minutes.
Substituted in for Kim Myung-jun in the 31st minute of the second half, Lee said, "Today, while warming up, I felt that 'this is not easy.' Honestly, I cannot say my condition is good."
At the same time, he expressed confidence, saying, "The coach and I have been communicating continuously even before I came, and I know very well the direction the coach pursues and the role I need to play in the team. Not just me, but all the other players know very well what we need to do, so if we all stick together, I believe we can easily win the gold medal."
(Photo courtesy of Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)
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