Koreans in Europe: Cho and Lee get one each as Midtjylland beat AGF

Home > Sports > Football

Koreans in Europe: Cho and Lee get one each as Midtjylland beat AGF

Published: 26 Feb. 2024, 08:56 Updated: 26 Feb. 2024, 16:50

JIM BULLEY
[email protected]

Cho Gue-sung, left, and Lee Han-beom celebrate their goals in images posted on the official FC Midtjylland X account on Sunday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

It was a Korean tour de force at Ceres Park Arena in Aarhus, Denmark on Sunday, with Cho Gue-sung and Lee Han-beom scoring back-to-back goals to lead FC Midtjylland to a 3-2 win over AGF.

The visitors fell behind early in a messy game in Aarhus, giving up a penalty in the ninth minute that Partick Mortensen made short work of. AGF nearly added a second in the 16th minute, but a VAR review kept Midtjylland in the game.

AGF held on to the lead until the dying minutes of the first half, when Cho came through with a penalty in stoppage time to tie things up going into the break.

Center-back Lee, making his first start since joining the club last summer, piled on just minutes after the break. Lee’s goal was his first for Midtjylland, giving him a goal and an assist in only two league appearances for the Danish club.

AGF tied things up again with another a penalty in the 76th minute. Midtjylland, now down to nine men after Paulinho was sent off in the 49th and Sverrir Ingi Ingason in the 75th, salvaged the win with a late stoppage time goal from substitute Charles.

Cho Gue-sung, left, and Han-beom celebrate in a video posted on FC Midtjylland's official X account on Sunday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

With the win, Midtjylland now sit just one point behind league leaders Brondby with three games left to play before the league splits into the championship and qualifying playoffs.

Sunday’s result was a big one for both Cho and Lee.

Cho returned to the Superliga last week after a difficult trip to the AFC Asian Cup. Korea underperformed at the continental tournament, reaching the semifinals through a combination of luck and late equalizers that the Korean media dubbed zombie football.

Cho was a target of the lot of the criticism aimed at the national team as he failed to produce in front of goal and eventually ended up spending part of the tournament relegated to the bench.

That experience appeared to have impacted Cho’s confidence last week, when he missed a penalty against Brondby that likely would have given Midtjylland the lead over their biggest league rivals.

Sunday’s outing suggests that Cho is starting to find his feet again and gives him 10 goals across all competitions with Midtjylland this season, nine in the Superliga and one in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers.

Lee, meanwhile, walks away from Sunday’s game with one of the few goals that was not the result of a penalty and an 8.7 rating on Sofascore — the highest of any player on the pitch.

In a game where two of his fellow defenders got sent off, Lee not only lasted the full 90 minutes, but also added his first Midtjylland goal to the mix as well. That gives the 21-year-old a goal and an assist in just 92 minutes of regulation time league football and a very strong case for a more regular spot in the starting lineup.

Midtjylland will be back in action on Friday as they face third-place Copenhagen at home in Herning, Denmark.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]