Korean stars Cho Gue-sung, Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in prove potential in Qatar

Korea’s round of 16 exit at the 2022 Qatar World Cup may have come earlier than anybody wanted, but for some players the international journey is only just beginning.

Korea's Cho Gue-sung heads in the equalizer during a group stage match against Ghana at the 2022 Qatar World Cup at Education City Stadium in Qatar on Nov. 28. [YONHAP]

Korea’s round of 16 exit at the 2022 Qatar World Cup may have come earlier than anybody wanted, but for some players the international journey is only just beginning.

Striker Cho Gue-sung left Qatar as Korea’s biggest rising star, pulling in fans with both his prowess in front of goal and his K-pop star good looks.

Cho, who is yet to play outside of Korea’s K League, saw his number of Instagram followers increase by 2 million after making his World Cup debut in Korea’s opening game against Uruguay. Media requests quickly followed, with a topless Cho gracing the front cover of the January Korean edition of Vogue magazine.

Korean striker Cho Gue-sung poses on the front cover of the January edition of the Korean Vogue magazine in a photo posted to his personal Instagram account on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

But look away from the beauty parade and there’s plenty for football fans to get excited about. Cho left the Qatar World Cup after appearing in four games, starting three and scoring two goals, both against Ghana on Nov. 28.

That performance alone is enough to guarantee Cho some European interest when the January transfer window comes around, with Scottish club Celtic, Turkish side Fenerbahce and the Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund all already linked to the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors striker.

Dig a little deeper into the numbers and there’s even more reason to get excited about Cho. According to statistics accumulator Squawka, Cho proved to be one of the greatest players in the air in Qatar. The young Korean forward won 21 aerial duels, putting him second in terms of success in the air among all players at the World Cup, after Morocco’s Youssef En-Nesyri.

Other notable inclusions on the list include Argentina’s Nicolás Otamendi, who also won 21 but had significantly more playing time, France’s Oliver Giroud with 19, Croatia’s Ivan Perisic with 17 and Spain’s Rodri with 16.

In football analytics, a duel is used to refer to any clash between two players, whether in the air or on the ground. Every duel has a winner and a loser — the winner is the one that gets the ball.

Ranking second for aerial duel wins across the entire World Cup clearly highlights just how deadly Cho is in the air. On 21 occasions he successfully headed the ball while jostling with an opposing player, including for both goals against Ghana.

Cho wasn’t the only Korean player to prove especially successful when it came to one-on-one confrontations. Stalwart center-back Kim Min-jae lost just one duel during the entire World Cup, winning 13 of 14 duels across three games played.

Korea's Kim Min-jae passes the ball during a round of 16 match against Brazil at the 2022 Qatar World Cup in Doha, Qatar on Dec. 5. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Unlike Cho, Kim, the Napoli defender and former Serie A player of the month, is already a well-known figure in the footballing world, having burst onto the European scene when he joined the Italian club earlier this year.

Kim is a key part of a fiery Napoli lineup that remain undefeated domestically since April and have lost just one game across all tournaments since the 2022-23 season began.

Kim’s defensive prowess has already been proven multiple times in Serie A and the Champions League, and a number of clubs including Manchester United are thought to be lining up to try and exploit a very narrow release clause in his contract expected to open next summer.

Napoli, meanwhile, are pushing to close the clause completely by negotiating a new contract with Kim just months after he joined the club.

With Kim already an increasingly well-known name in the elite footballing world, the Squawka statistics are unlikely to have little impact on his employment prospects. They do prove, however, that even the very best that Uruguay, Ghana and Brazil have to offer could do little to stop the Korean monster.

Twenty-one-year-old Lee Kang-in is another Korean youngster who turned more than a few heads in Qatar.

Korea's Lee Kang-in crosses the ball during a game against Portugal at the 2022 Qatar World Cup in Qatar on Dec. 2. [YONHAP]

Mallorca midfielder Lee has long been a fan favorite back home, where he has been seen as the future of Korean football since starring on TV show “Fly Shoot Dori” at just six years old.

Lee spent ten years with Valencia, coming up through the club’s academy before being dropped last year and moving to Mallorca. He got off to an explosive start to the La Liga season, scoring two goals and picking up three assists so far this season and earning a player of the month nomination along the way.

Despite his popularity and recent success, Lee was regularly overlooked by former Korean coach Paulo Bento, who left Lee out of the roster for a full year before calling him up for the September friendlies, only to leave him unused on the bench.

Lee finally did get the nod for Qatar and very quickly made a name for himself, appearing in all four games and making a mark in his World Cup debut against Uruguay, when Lee and Cho came on as late substitutes and immediately breathed new life into a flagging team.

Against Ghana, Lee came on in the 57th minute and within less than a minute he had driven a beautiful cross into the box for Cho to head home.

That one-minute assist likely turned more than a few heads in Europe’s big five leagues, where attention was likely already on the young midfielder. It also earns Lee a spot on the list of youngest assist providers at the Qatar World Cup, coming in as the fourth youngest.

Lee, born in February 2001, follows Goncalo Ramos of Portugal, born in June 2001, Jamal Musiala of Germany, born in February 2003, and Jude Bellingham of England, born in June 2003, on the list.

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