The presence of goalkeeper Mun Hyeon-ho (20, Chungnam Asan) definitely shone in Kim Eun-joong’s last game of the group stage, a scoreless game.스포츠토토
The under-20 (U-20) soccer team led by coach Kim Eun-joong drew 0-0 in the third match of Group F of the FIFA U-20 World Cup against Gambia held at the Mendoza Stadium in Argentina on the 29th (Korean time).
A calm game was expected as the two teams had already decided to advance to the round of 16 ahead of the game. The rotation was already predicted to such an extent that coach Kim Eun-joong also said the day before, “There is no need to exhaust your stamina unreasonably.”
In fact, coach Kim Eun-joong removed seven players from the starting list for the game against Gambia, excluding Lee Yeong-joon (Kim Cheon Sangmu), Lee Seung-won (Gangwon FC), and Kim Ji-su (Seongnam FC), who had just played against Honduras. Moon Hyun-ho took the place of Kim Joon-hong (Kim Cheon, managing director), who was previously warned against France and Honduras and missed due to accumulated warnings.
And ‘Second Goalkeeper’ Moon Hyeon-ho became the protagonist of the scoreless goal that day. After a rather calm first half, Gambia and Kim Eun-joong increased the tempo in the second half and exchanged attacks. In particular, in the first minute of the second half for Gambia, Amada Bojang took a no-mark header chance. Bojang attempted a header right in front of him, but Moon Hyeon-ho calmly blocked it. After 4 minutes, he showed stable punching.
The highlight was in the 21st minute of the second half. Substitute Salifu Kohli attempted a mid-range shot. Moon Hyeon-ho was caught in reverse action, but showed a sensational save with his left arm. The ball hit the goal again, but Mun Hyeon-ho calmly caught it and prevented the goal from being conceded. There was also a scene where local spectators applauded Moon Hyun-ho’s save through the relay. The SBS commentators in charge of the broadcast praised him as ‘Munnarumma (Mun Hyeon-ho + Gianluigi Donnarumma)’.
On this day, Gambia tried 5 effective shots and put pressure on Korea, but all bowed their heads to Moon Hyun-ho’s save. After a fierce battle in the second half, the two teams shared a point.
FIFA also expressed surprise at Moon Hyun-ho’s performance. FIFA highlighted Moon’s performance on the official website after the game, saying, “As Kohli’s shot was blocked by Moon Hyun-ho’s arm, Gambia concluded that tonight was not their night.”
Photo = Moon Hyun-ho SNS
Photo = Moon Hyun-ho SNS
Mun Hyeon-ho, a graduate of Maetan Middle School and Maetang High School, has the experience of winning the championship in the National Secondary Soccer League Wangjungwangjeon in 2017 while at Maetan Middle School. He was also awarded the Goalkeeper Award. Later, in 2022, he joined K-League 2 Chungnam Asan FC as a free starter, and played 4 games after stepping on his professional stage. There are no league appearances yet for this season. As a youth representative, he played in 7 matches and scored 1 goal before this day. On this day, he participated in the U-20 World Cup and increased his participation record to 8 games.
On the other hand, in a short Q&A released by the Korea Football Association (KFA) on social media (SNS) on the 15th, Moon Hyun-ho said, “I want to participate with the mindset of enjoying the tournament itself.”
Coach Kim Eun-joong had a happy worry about Moon Hyeon-ho’s performance, which led to the first scoreless game in the tournament. After successfully advancing to the round of 16, Kim Eun-joong’s next opponent is Ecuador, who is second in Group B.