Some fans still not over Lee Kang-in's Asian Cup conduct, weeks after apology

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Some fans still not over Lee Kang-in's Asian Cup conduct, weeks after apology

Published: 13 Mar. 2024, 10:51 Updated: 13 Mar. 2024, 16:28

Lee Kang-in heads to the bench in stoppage time during the match between Korea and Australia at the Asian Cup in Qatar in February. [YONHAP]

Weeks after the Korean national team’s Lee Kang-in and Son Heung-min publicly buried the hatchet over their so-called tiff on the eve of Korea’s semifinal exit from the AFC Asian Cup, a small but vocal slice of Korean football fans are still reeling from the row, which was supposedly in some part instigated by Lee, 23, and left team captain Son, 31, with an injured finger.

The tick in disgruntlement came after national team interim manager Hwang Sun-hong on Monday confirmed that Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee, one of Korea’s key midfielders, would be back in action for the two World Cup qualifiers against Thailand this month.

The Korean Football Association (KFA) posted the final roster, which includes Lee and Tottenham Hotspur’s Son, to Instagram — opening the gates to a stream of negative comments directed at Lee.

"I am not gonna watch the national team because I don't like to see Lee Kang-in,” read one comment under the post.

But comments bashing Lee were interspersed among plenty of others lending the midfielder their support, in both words and a slew of fire and heart and clapping-hand emojis.

And Lee is hardly the main source of discontent in the world of Korean football.

More fans are calling for KFA head Chung Mong-gyu to resign after Korea’s disappointing performance at the Asian Cup despite being one of the most powerful teams with a host of stars from Europe.

One popular YouTube channel and social media page, 4231, which produces Korean-language content about Korean and international football, is rallying fans to join a “boycott” against the Korea-Thailand qualifiers to demand that Chung step down.

For fans in Korea, the Asian Cup, along with Chung’s controversial appointment of fired manager Jurgen Klinsmann a year earlier, was the latest example of mismanagement over his tenure at the KFA helm.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]