An Early Yellow Card, But Undeterred

[Anchor]

Lee Kang-in, the centerpiece of the national team, shone even in the midst of a disappointing defeat. Despite receiving an early yellow card, he did not shrink back, covering every corner of the pitch and troubling the Mexican defense with his signature precise passing.

Yu Byeongmin reports.

[Reporter]

Lee Kang-in stepped onto the pitch with a look of determination, singing the national anthem with vigor. Although he received an unexpected yellow card just four minutes into the match for stepping on a Mexican player's foot, he remained undeterred.

[Lee Kang-in/National Football Team Midfielder: There is the risk of being sent off if you get a card, but I didn't let that shrink my game. I just thought about how I could be of the most help to the team.]

To shake up a tightly packed Mexican defense, he threaded forward passes whenever the slightest gap appeared.

The highlight was a pass delivered to Son Heung-min in the 16th minute of the first half, which was unfortunately ruled offside.

He recorded three passes that led to shots, the highest among all players from both teams.

When Mexico's Lira, who was tasked with man-marking Lee, provoked him with rough tackles and physical challenges, Lee did not back down in the mental battle, engaging in a war of words in fluent Spanish.

During the match, Lee also briefly spoke with the opposing manager and his former mentor, Javier Aguirre.

[Javier Aguirre/Mexico National Football Team Manager: (When Lee approached) I told him, 'Don't come near me, or I'll kick you.' And I said, 'Your hairstyle is bad, and your hair color is terrible.' Of course, I was joking.]

Lee even attempted a long-range shot late in the game in pursuit of an equalizer, but had to swallow the bitterness of defeat as the final whistle blew.

[Lee Kang-in/National Football Team Midfielder: We prepared to win, so I feel very disappointed that we ended up losing.]

Nevertheless, he did not lose hope and set his sights on higher goals.

[Lee Kang-in/National Football Team Midfielder: The match is already over. We need to do better in the remaining games to reach the Round of 32, show a better performance there to make it to the Round of 16, and then play well again to reach the quarterfinals. I think we just need to keep going like that.]

(Video reporting: Hwang In-seok, Video editing: Park Chun-bae, Design: Lee So-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.