It appears that Lee Kang-in is not yet in good physical condition to play the game.
PSG announced the match list participating in the 5th round of the French Ligue 1 in the 2023-24 season against OGC Nice, which will be held at 4 am on the 16th at 4 am on the official website on the 15th (Korean time).
Among a total of 20 players included in the game roster, Lee Kang-in’s name could not be found. It is assumed that he will not be able to participate in the game as he has not yet fully recovered from his injury.
Lee Kang-in’s injury was revealed on the 22nd of last month. PSG officially announced on the club’s website, “Lee Kang-in suffered an injury to his left quadriceps muscle. Lee Kang-in will receive treatment until the end of the international match period.” Lee Kang-in has been running tirelessly after taking a short break after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar before the start of the second half of the 2022-23 season. He is not a player who gets injured often, but this is already his second injury since moving to PSG.
Fortunately, it was not a major injury, but it appears that the continued accumulation of fatigue ultimately led to a bad situation called injury. Fortunately, Lee Kang-in began rehabilitation quickly. On the 25th of last month, PSG shared the news that Lee Kang-in had begun rehabilitation with a photo.
His rehabilitation appeared to be going well. Lee Kang-in also appeared in the PSG training news released on the 6th. Lee Kang-in appeared to be engrossed in training with a bright smile. Lee Kang-in also posted a photo of himself on his personal SNS, saying “SOON” and leaving a hint that he may return soon.
The news that Lee Kang-in is quickly recovering from injury was also good news for coach Hwang Sun-hong, who is preparing for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Although PSG did not show a very positive attitude toward Lee Kang-in’s selection, it was natural that the longer Lee Kang-in’s recovery was delayed, the longer his joining the Asian Games team would be delayed.
It was this week that news of Lee Kang-in’s return to team training was announced. On the 11th, France’s ‘SPORT’ reported, “Unless (the injury) recurs, Lee Kang-in is scheduled to return to the French Ligue 1 game after the A-match period. Good news was delivered as PSG players returned to the training ground after a three-day break. . Lee Kang-in, who had been sidelined since August 22 due to a left quadriceps injury, has returned. Lee Kang-in, who returned after completing individual training, is participating in team training and is making good progress toward his return,” the report said.
When news of the injury broke, it was predicted that Lee Kang-in would not return until mid-September at the earliest. At the time, French media ‘Le Parisien’ reported, “Lee Kang-in, who suffered a quadriceps injury, will be out until at least mid-September. Lee Kang-in, who started in both of PSG’s two Ligue 1 games, will not play in the matches against Lens and Olympique Lyonnais. “Depending on the injury situation, he may not even be able to appear in the UEFA Champions League (UCL),” he predicted.
Contrary to expectations, Lee Kang-in quickly returned to team training, and it looked like a decision would soon be made on when he would be selected for the Asian Games. There were some contractions. Originally, PSG was scheduled to respond on the 13th local time regarding whether and when Lee Kang-in would be selected. The contact from PSG that arrived on the 13th was vague.
Asian Games national team coach Hwang Seon-hong said on the 14th, “It is frustrating. I am personally communicating with Kang-in. Lee Kang-in wants to join as soon as possible, but the timing of his joining is not being coordinated with PSG. The association is communicating closely with PSG. “I hope the timing of his joining can be decided as soon as possible so he can focus on the team,” he said, adding that PSG’s cooperation is urgent.
In addition, Coach Hwang said, “I have not yet received an official answer on when he will join. I am feeling frustrated about that. We decided to contact him on the 13th to see if his injury has fully recovered, but there has been no official answer yet.” He expressed his position that he was embarrassed.
Lee Kang-in is a very important resource for PSG, so it was not an easy decision to make. Still, Lee Kang-in was an indispensable player for Coach Hwang. He said, “I would like to come in 1-2 games before the group stage, but that doesn’t seem to be possible. PSG seems to have put in place various conditions. They have put in place conditions such as the Asian Cup qualifiers in January. There has been good discussion on those matters.” “I hope he joins as soon as possible,” he said, looking forward to Lee Kang-in joining the team as soon as possible.
As coach Hwang Seon-hong wished, PSG changed its position dramatically. PSG had not let Lee Kang-in go, even imposing conditions such as selection for the Asian Cup, but he suddenly took a cooperative stance.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said on the 15th, “As a result of discussions with Lee Kang-in’s team, PSG, it was finally agreed on the night of the 14th, Korean time, that Lee Kang-in will join the Asian Games national team after his team’s home match against UCL Dortmund on the 19th, French local time. Accordingly, Lee Kang-in plans to move to Hangzhou, China on the 소닉카지노20th (France local time) and join the Asian Games national team,” the official announced.
KFA then said, “After receiving an email from the PSG club on the 13th asking for permission to be selected for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games on the condition that the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup selection schedule be adjusted, we discussed with PSG until late at night on the 14th. Final decision. He also explained the background of the discussions with PSG, saying, “I received PSG’s official response on the night of the 14th that it would allow me to join the Asian Games national team on the 20th without any other preconditions.”
PSG, which had been uncooperative, decided to send Lee Kang-in to Hwang Seon-hong sooner than expected, giving the green light to achieve three consecutive Asian Games gold medals.
However, if Lee Kang-in is unable to play against Nice, it is unclear whether he will be able to play the game right away even if he joins the Asian Games national team. This is because although he is good enough to handle team training, his game sense and physical strength may not be 100% yet.
The scenario that coach Hwang Seon-hong would have drawn would have been to use Lee Kang-in starting from the third group match against Bahrain on the 24th. Since Lee Kang-in and other teammates have never worked together before, it was the best environment without the burden of experimentation to confirm advancement to the round of 16 before meeting Bahrain and to try new tactics by inserting Lee Kang-in in the game against Bahrain.
However, if Lee Kang-in is still unable to play, it is unclear whether Lee Kang-in will be able to be used immediately from the match against Bahrain. For now, we have no choice but to wait. If Lee Kang-in can play starting from the game against Dortmund in midweek, there will be no problem in putting him in from the game against Bahrain.
However, recurrence of injury must be prevented. Lee Kang-in has not had a full rest since the second half of the 2022-23 season. As the body continues to accumulate fatigue due to the busy schedule, injuries are suddenly becoming more frequent. The Asian Games schedule is as tight as Premier League (PL) Boxing Day. Because the available player pool is small, players do not have time to recover properly, so they have to play continuously.
Even without Lee Kang-in, Korea is far ahead of Kuwait, Thailand, and Bahrain. Even passing the group stage is not something to worry about. Hwang Seon-hong’s goal is not to advance to the round of 16, but to win gold for the third time in a row. If Lee Kang-in is put in too much and a terrible situation arises in which the injury recurs, it will be a huge negative factor for the team’s bid for the gold medal.
This is also the worst situation for Lee Kang-in, who gave up competition for the starting position at PSG for a while. Bringing home a gold medal while taking good care of Lee Kang-in’s body is not easy, but coach Hwang Seon-hong has been given a truly important mission.