Three Korean footballers make an appearance as Tottenham beat Brighton 8-0

From left: Cho So-hyun, Lee Geum-min and Park Ye-eun [EACH CLUB]

You wait years for one so-called three-way Korean derby to happen, and then two come along in the same week.

For the second time in four days, three Korean footballers took to the pitch at the same time in a major European tournament on Sunday, appearing in Tottenham Hotspur’s 8-0 drubbing of Brighton and Hove Albion.

Lee Geum-min started the game for Brighton in the Women’s Super League fixture at Broadfield Stadium in Crawley, England. Tottenham’s Cho So-hyun joined her on the pitch at the start of the second half, with Brighton’s Park Ye-eun coming on in the 86th minute.

For Cho, a national team veteran and the most capped Korean footballer of all time, it was an especially good game.

Coming on in the 46th minute, Cho assisted Tottenham’s seventh and eighth goals, partnering up with Jessica Naz in the 60th minute and again in the 83rd minute.

Spurs scored four goals in each half, with Ashleigh Neville, Drew Spence and Naz picking up a brace each alongside individual efforts from Molly Bartrip and Nikola Karczewska.

With five games played in the 2022-23 Super League season, Spurs now sit in fifth place with three wins and two losses, trailing behind Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, who have all won five games.

Brighton trail in 11th place in the 12-team league, with just one win and four losses.

Sunday’s game marked the second time in a week that three Koreans took to the field at the same time in Europe. For the final 14 minutes of a Europa League clash in Freiburg, Germany on Thursday, Hwang In-beom, Jeong Woo-yeong and Hwang Ui-jo were all on the pitch.

For a lot of the match between Freiburg and OIympiacos at Europa-Park Stadium it looked like the three-way appearance might not happen. With only Olympiacos’ Hwang In-beom starting, the three-way Korean derby looked as elusive as it did in the first leg, when Freiburg won 3-0 and only two Korean players made it on to the pitch.

But then Freiburg brought on Jeong Woo-yeong in the 64th minute, taking the quota up to two Korean footballers. Olympiacos added Hwang Ui-jo in the 83rd minute, completing the set with Hwang In-beom playing the entire game.

The appearance of both Hwangs and Jeong may well have been the first time three Koreans have played together in a major European tournament, although analysts remain uncertain exactly where that line should be drawn when it comes to the Europa League.

Sunday’s appearance of Lee, Cho and Park takes the three-way Korean derby count to two in style, with the 8-0 win offering a lot more excitement than Thursday’s 1-1 draw.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]