The opening of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), held for the first time in six years, is approaching in about a month.
The WBC is a tournament organized by the US Major League Baseball and the Players Association. It is the only tournament in which the best players from all over the world, including major leaguers, attend, and in fact has the same status as the ‘Baseball World Cup’.
The WBC, starting with the first tournament in 2006, decided to hold the tournament in odd-numbered years thereafter, and was held every four years, such as 2009, 2013, and 2017. However, in 2021, the competition was not held due to the Corona 19 incident that hit the world, and this year it will resume after 6 years.
Korea, which has the most active professional baseball league along with the United States and Japan, has consistently participated in the WBC. While there were times when good results in the WBC led to popularity in the domestic league, when he suffered an unexpected slump, he was criticized by public opinion.
◇Baseball’s popularity signal, the 1st tournament with a legend in the quarterfinals (3rd place)
The national team of the first WBC tournament was the most spectacular in terms of ‘name value’. Park Chan-ho, Kim Byung-hyun, Kim Seon-woo, Koo Dae-seong, Bong Joong-geun, Seo Jae-eung, and Choi Hee-seop, who were members of the major leagues at the time, all mobilized, and Lee Seung-yeop, who played in Japan, a total of 8 ‘overseas players’.
In addition to Bae Young-soo, Oh Seung-hwan, and Park Jin-man, who led Samsung to win the Korean Series, Lee Byeong-gyu, Lee Jong-beom, Kim Tae-gyun, Kim Dong-ju, Jeong Dae-hyeon, Son Min-han, and Park Jae-hong all participated.
In the first round against Japan, which was trailing 1-2, Korea won with a come-from-behind home run by Lee Seung-yeop in the 8th inning. The scene where Lee Jong-beom roared after hitting 2 RBIs and 3 bases in the 8th inning against Japan in the match against Japan, which we met again, is still considered an unforgettable ‘famous scene’.
Although he swallowed his regret by kneeling against Japan, whom he met again in the semifinals, it was a tournament that properly ignited the baseball fever. At this time, 11 members of the national team, including Kim Tae-gyun, Lee Beom-ho, Oh Seung-hwan, and Bong Joong-geun, received military exemption.
◇Only 5 matches between Korea and Japan, 2 competitions that made the whole nation laugh and cry (runner-up)온라인바카라
Korea, which created excitement with the 1st WBC, continued its momentum in the 2nd competition where many of the gold medalists of the 2008 Beijing Olympics appeared. There were only two foreign players, Choo Shin-soo and Lim Chang-yong, but they showed strong cohesion.
Bong Joong-geun, who emerged as a new Japanese killer, earned the nickname ‘Ichiro Trainer’ through his unique restraining motion. Jung Hyun-wook, who played a big role in the bullpen, was given the title of ‘National Slave’.
In this tournament, in particular, they faced rival Japan only five times. In the first match of the first round, Korea suffered humiliation from a 2-14 cold game loss, but in the first place match, Korea took revenge with a 1-0 victory.
Afterwards, Korea and Japan, who exchanged 1 win and 1 loss in the second round, won side by side in the semi-finals, and the big match of the ‘Korea-Japan final’ was concluded.
Korea was trailing by one run until the end of the game, but Lee Bum-ho hit a dramatic tie with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to take the game into overtime. At that time, the Japanese pitcher who was hit by a tie was Darvish Yu, who also participated in this tournament.
Although he lost in overtime, it was a great game that reminded him of the adage, “Baseball starts with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.”
◇The shocking ‘Taichung Disaster’ (Round 1) Korea on a winning streak Korea, which had
been on a winning streak from the 2006 WBC to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2009 WBC, and the 2010 Asian Games, faced a great ordeal at the 2013 WBC. I was worried about the composition.
Samsung Lions, which was the best team in the league at the time, organized the national team around Ryu Joong-il, but the only overseas player was Lee Dae-ho, who played in the Japanese league. Since Choo Shin-soo did not come, there was no big leaguer.
In addition, Park Byeong-ho, who swept the KBO League home run and RBI title in the previous season (2012) and was even awarded the MVP, dropped out of the national team because of Kim Tae-gyun and Lee Dae-ho, and Ryu Hyun-jin, who was about to start his first season in the major leagues, and Kim Gwang-hyun, who was in rehabilitation, were also excluded, and power weakening was unavoidable.
Still, being eliminated in the first round was unexpected. In the first match, Korea lost to the ambush Netherlands 0-5. Afterwards, they defeated Australia and Taiwan in turn, recording 2 wins and 1 loss with Taiwan and the Netherlands, but were eliminated due to goal difference. It is a tournament remembered as the so-called ‘Taichung Disaster’.
◇To the Netherlands and also to Israel… Korea collapsed at home (Round 1)
Having tasted a shocking elimination in the 1st round, Korea prepared fiercely for the 4th round. In particular, since the first round was held at the home, Gocheok Sky Dome, it was worth expecting revenge.
However, the power of the national team was uneasy. Six members of the original plan had to leave due to injuries, and there was no clear ace. Only Oh Seung-hwan, who was a big leaguer at the time, was the only overseas player, and Ryu Hyun-jin, who was injured, Choo Shin-soo, Kang Jung-ho, Kim Hyun-soo, and Park Byeong-ho were all out.
The uneasy premonition became a reality. Korea started again disappointingly, losing 1-2 to Israel from the first game, and then again 0-5 to the Netherlands, whom they had beaten four years ago. Rick Vanden Hulk, who played in the KBO League, tied him up and got a counter punch.
It was a humiliation that the home team lost both of the first two games of the full league and was eliminated. Although they escaped the humiliation of defeat by beating Taiwan in their last game, this tournament is also a bitter memory of the ‘Gocheok Dome Disaster’.
◇Korea pledges to take revenge, challenge for the first time in 14 years.
Having tasted cheers twice and despair twice, the keyword for this tournament is ‘victory’. They are determined to restore their honor by advancing to the semifinals for the first time in 14 years since 2009.
The preparation process is smooth. Ryu Hyun-jin is again injured, but Kim Ha-seong (San Diego), Choi Ji-man (Pittsburgh), and Tommy Edman (St. Louis), the first ‘non-Korean’ in the national team history, joined.
The remaining 27 players are all domestic players, but most of those who are currently showing the best skills in the league, such as Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG), Koo Chang-mo (NC), Ko Woo-seok (LG), Lee Jung-hoo (Kiwoom), Choi Jeong (SSG), Yang Eui-ji (Doosan), joined. The ‘new structure’, in which veterans and newcomers are evenly harmonized, is an impressive composition.
Korea was placed in Group B along with Japan, Australia, China and the Czech Republic in the first round. It is not an easy competition, with only two teams out of five countries advancing to the second round, but considering that China and the Czech Republic are a few steps behind, the game against Australia will in fact determine their advance to the second round. Coach Lee Kang-cheol is also concentrating on preparing for the game against Australia.
There is always a lot of interest in the ‘Fateful Japan Match’. In this tournament, Japan, led by Shohei Otani (Angels), Darvish (San Diego), Sasaki Loki (Chiba Lotte), Suzuki Seiya (Cubs), Lars Nuthba (St. If both teams are regarded as the strong points of Group B, it is safe to say that the match between Korea and Japan is in fact the match for first place in Group B.
If you pass the first round and go through the second round, you can rise to the top 4, which is your goal. If you take 1st place in Group 1 in the first round, you will face the 2nd place in Group B, and if you play 2nd place, you will face the 1st place in Group B. If they face the Netherlands, who made Korea cry in the previous two tournaments, they can properly seek revenge.