Ever since I started soccer in elementary school, I have learned the game from a total of six coaches.
My elementary school soccer coach, my middle school soccer coach, my Juventus youth coach.
And Coach Tony and Coach Vincenzo at Fiorentina.
And now, my club coach and national team coaches as well.
What is truly fascinating about soccer is that while the answer may be set in stone, the process of deriving that answer is different for everyone.
The answer, in the end, is to stop the opponent well while making sure they can't stop us.
How to achieve that, what method to approach it with—the style differs completely from coach to coach.
It's like in math—even if the answer is equally 2, someone writes 1+1, someone writes 4-2, and someone writes √4 as their formula.
Therefore, players can't help but be greatly influenced by which coach they meet.
Because what to focus on and what to aim for on the pitch changes completely.
So, in order to fully bring out my abilities, maybe meeting the right coach is even more important than meeting the right teammates.
In that regard, I've been quite lucky.
Because most of the coaches I've met so far have been good people.
No, aside from one, I could say they've all been people I'm truly grateful for.
Well, that one person is obviously the coach from my Juventus days... Since I was a mess back then as well, I don't blame that coach anymore, looking back now.
Thinking about it that way, I've really been lucky enough to meet only good coaches.
What was especially fortunate was that those coaches had similar dispositions.
It's not just that they were good people; what they demanded of me was consistent.
Of course, there must have been differences in the details.
From my elementary school coach to the current Coach Guardiola.
Without exception, what they told me most often was to play freely, to do as I pleased.
Thanks to that, even when coaches changed, I was able to adapt to the team without wavering or floundering.
And in that regard, it was the same with the national team now.
"...For Korea and her people—preserve forever!"
As the singing of the national anthem ends, applause bursts out from here and there in the stands.
Then, having promised fair play through handshakes with the opposing players, I run out onto the pitch and check the condition of the grass.
Group stage, match two.
Match day against Jordan.
Qatar, where we've come again in winter, but the air still feels somewhere between pleasantly warm and painfully hot.
The captain, who was yesterday's enemy but is today's teammate, said that Middle Eastern teams are not opponents to be taken lightly.
Their natural strength and speed already make them difficult opponents, and with this being practically their home turf, it would be even harder, he said.
The Jordanian players we actually faced didn't seem all that different from European players.
But I don't think there's any need to worry.
We have a striker that even Man City fears, and defenders that European strikers fear.
It's not us who should fear our opponent, but Jordan.
Beep—!
The opening whistle blows, and we begin the match by playing the ball backward.
Slowly, first of all.
Looking around the pitch broadly, I take in the information entering my field of vision one by one.
We've come out in a 4-3-3 formation.
The opponent... a standard 3-4-3.
As expected, they seem to have brought out a defensive formation.
I figure they've given up on possession to focus on defense, likely looking to counterattack when the opportunity strikes.
In that sense, it's a familiar environment for me.
There isn't much information on the opposing players, but I suppose it's a relief that nothing much will change.
The coach's instructions were also just to play freely as usual, so to some extent, a rough sketch was already drawn in my mind.
But before even five minutes had passed since the start,
I began to think I would have to redraw that rough sketch.
Tak-tak-tap—!
First, my prediction missed the mark: the opponent was pressing much harder than I had expected.
I had expected them to drop their lines completely and lock things down.
After seeming to test the waters, they soon pushed their midfield line up and began applying pressure.
Judging by the height and direction of that press, the target seemed to be our third line.
That is to say, the waist—the defensive midfielder position that protects the defense and connects offense and defense.
Today, our formation deployed three midfielders.
One man standing in the defensive midfielder position, with two attacking midfielders deployed behind him.
That is, forming an inverted triangle in midfield; seeing as the opponent seemed likely to focus on defense,
the coach's thinking seemed to be to place only the minimum number of men in the third line and put greater weight into the attack.
"Hey! Going to the side!"
"Back!"
But perhaps it was that very part they were targeting in reverse.
The opponent began to apply pressure.
Concentrated exclusively on our defensive midfielder.
Two would rush at one as if to threaten him.
Pa-ang—!
Because of that, our progression didn't come easily.
With such intense pressure on us, the only thing we could do was play it back again.
The defenders who received the ball again likewise played simply.
Unable to go through the center, they could only pass it to the sides.
However, even there, an outlet didn't open easily.
Pa-ang—!
Under the opposing wing-back's pressure, the ball returned to where it started.
With one-on-one pressure coming in, the pressure was so considerable that they couldn't even face forward.
The center was no good, and the flanks were no good either.
"..."
Every direction was completely locked down.
By Jordan's press, which didn't even feel that overwhelming.
...Was Jordan also a golden generation?
Bbaaaang—!
In the end, the ball soared into the sky.
Judging that building up through short passes would be difficult, a long pass crossed from the defensive area to the attacking area in one go.
But in the aerial battle, the opponent held the advantage.
Because our front three are all players with advantages at their feet, not players with advantages in the air.
Pa-ang—!
The opponent sprang up lightly and won the ball.
Position: center.
I immediately sprinted over to press and looked around, surveying my surroundings, but in that instant, I got a sinking feeling.
Tak-tak-tap—!
I'm alone.
There are no teammates pressing with me.
Thanks to that, the opponent easily found an opening and released a pass without hesitation.
Paaaang—!
That pass cut across the center, connecting directly to the opposing striker.
...There are too few defenders.
To be exact, there is no one to protect the defensive line.
As mentioned, it's a formation with only one man stationed in the third line, so there simply aren't enough people.
Tak-tak-tap—!
It might have been stopped by individual skill, but you could see them panicking at the opponent charging in with a bouncy rhythm.
And so, before even five minutes had passed since the match began,
Bbaaaang—!
the first shot came from the opponent's feet.
From slightly long range.
But it was a position well worth shooting from.
Shooooom—
Fortunately, the shot flew over the crossbar.
But can I really call that fortunate?
Allowing a shot like this isn't something to be relieved about in the first place.
"..."
While preparing the goal kick,
with a slightly bewildered heart, I scan my teammates' faces one by one.
This... something feels off.
This isn't the picture I had imagined at all.
I thought it would be similar to the previous match where we had to face a ten-back for the entire game.
Instead, the opponent is coming up without fear, and has that exposed a weakness of ours that we hadn't seen?
"..."
For now, I felt I had to completely revise all plans.
*
It's only when someone is there and then gone that you feel the empty space.
I'm only now realizing what an incredible player Rodri is.
Come to think of it, receiving the ball in the defensive midfielder position, turning to face forward, and playing an incisive forward pass into the right area is no easy task.
Watching Rodri, it looks incredibly easy, but that's not because it's easy—it's simply because Rodri is that good.
Because of that, I had momentarily forgotten.
That it is no easy feat.
Tak-tak-tap—!
Abandoning my position, I drop below the halfway line.
Right now, there are too few options for buildup from the back.
Even I have to drop back to form a triangle and open up passing lanes.
Tat-tap—!
Dropping deep almost to the third line, only then do the numbers even out against the opponent.
It's still insufficient.
The basics dictate that we need one more than the opponent.
But unless I'm the coach, I can't make my teammates move as I please.
All I can do is strive to find the best answer within the given situation.
For now, it seems I'll have to break the press through individual strength alone.
Pa-ang—!
The ball comes to me.
Simultaneously, I can feel opposing players approaching from my left and right.
Sensing that distance, I glance to the side, but I see no movement from teammates offering to receive the pass.
...Do they trust me to find my own way out?
If so, I must live up to that faith.
Pa-ang—!
I receive the ball facing our own goal.
The opponents rushing in from left and right have reached point-blank range.
But suddenly, something feels strange.
Why are they pressing like this?
Srrt—
The moment I step on the ball and pull it back, I quickly turn my body.
And then, with a light tap forward, I knock it long and quickly escape the pincer pressure.
Leaving the most important space open behind me while pressing from both sides?
Part of me wonders if we'd really been unable to play out of such a shoddy press; but right now, what's important isn't that—it's the next play, so I collect my focus.
Tak-tak-tap—!
Facing forward, I continue dribbling up.
What's strange about the opponent is that while their second line pushes up to press, their third line hangs back and waits, leaving an enormous space in between.
Thanks to that, I cross the halfway line and continue up without any obstruction.
On the other hand, the defensive wall is tight.
Because they're all backpedaling in a fluster.
It's hard to understand why they would push up to press in the front only to retreat in the more important spaces.
Of course, thanks to that, the space in front of goal is tight.
But to my eyes, it doesn't look all that narrow, either.
Perhaps because I've faced tighter defenses at my club.
Honestly, that level is on the roomy side.
Tat-tap—!
Once I cross the halfway line of the opponent's half, finally one opponent rushes out.
But even at a glance, I get the feeling I can easily get past him.
Perhaps because he feels somewhat stiff, and on top of that, he's hasty.
Tat-tap—!
Shifting the ball from my right foot to my left, I avoid the opponent's outstretched foot.
At the same time, as I knock the ball forward with my left foot, I get past him and break free.
In an instant, I'm front and center at the edge of the arc.
Only then do the defenders start swarming out like bees whose hive has been attacked.
They seem desperate to block the shot somehow, but if it comes to this... I just don't have to shoot.
Pa-ang—!
While all the defenders' eyes are locked on me, I thread a pass through them.
The pass flows into the feet of a teammate dashing in behind the defenders.
What comes next is beyond doubt.
The man who now has the ball is the same one who scored against our team not long ago.
What doubt could there be?
Bbaaaang—!
Shooooom—
Thwack—!
The net ripples lightly.
The result was already decided from the moment the opponent dared to leave him and come out to stop me.
They got their priorities wrong from the very start.
The protagonist of the golden generation isn't me.
*
Ahead of the match against South Korea,
Jordan had prepared for this match with the utmost caution.
In Group E, which comprised Jordan, South Korea, Bahrain, and Malaysia, South Korea was indisputably the strongest side.
For Jordan, who were aiming to advance to the Round of 16, the match against South Korea was inevitably the most important one.
So they analyzed intensively.
What were South Korea's strengths, and what were their weaknesses?
To determine how to craft a tailored response, they dissected and examined them down to the last detail.
Of course, they anticipated it wouldn't be easy, but as they prepared, they began to feel a direction taking shape.
Thanks to that, they found their thread, and several plans emerged that could cause an upset.
By the time their final pre-match training concluded, confidence that they could give it a go was circulating among them.
There was only one most important thing.
Not to be intimidated by the opponent's names.
As long as they stood on the same pitch, they were all just the same individual player—so they should have confidence.
No matter what league the opponent played in, what team they played for, what salary they earned.
If they entered the match forgetting everything and thinking of themselves as equals, colliding head-on,
they believed without a doubt that there was ample possibility.
It was with such hearts that the Jordanian players took to the pitch.
Although they flinched slightly when shaking hands after the national anthem,
they did their best not to let it show and started the match.
And it seemed to work, at least in the early going.
Their confidence soared as the opponent unexpectedly struggled to cope with their press.
Their momentum rose to the point where they even began to think the opponent wasn't so special after all.
But from the moment the opponent's number 10 dropped down to receive the ball, everything changed.
He shed the pressure of two players as naturally as breathing and turned; every Jordanian player who saw that scene recalled the things they had tried to forget.
They had told themselves to forget what league the opponent played in, what team he played for, what salary he earned.
But all of that came flooding back in that instant.
They couldn't help it.
Because it was a movement clearly on another level, the kind that only the most expensive player in the Premier League's Manchester City could demonstrate.
As he came charging with the ball, everyone unconsciously backpedaled.
They rushed in belatedly, but were mere scarecrows.
Forgetting that there was a former Premier League top scorer behind him, they all rushed in, only to be toyed with.
And so, within seven minutes of the first half it was 0-1, and from there, all of Jordan's plans came to nothing.
They had thought it would be doable if they could just maintain their confidence without shrinking before the opponent.
But when all their confidence was shattered by a single play from the opponent, their subsequent plans inevitably dissolved.
Beep, beep, beeep—!
In the end, the match was one-sided from then on, and the game finished 3-0.
With this, South Korea recorded two wins,
becoming the first in the group to confirm advancement to the Round of 16.
In the meantime, what was becoming a hot topic was none other than the situation in neighboring Group D.
The opponent that Group E's first place would meet in the Round of 16 was Group D's second place.
And before the tournament, the teams aiming for second place in Group D were Iraq, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Because the remaining team, Japan, had looked certain to advance as first place.
But people had forgotten that nothing is certain in soccer.
In the second group stage match, Japan was defeated by Iraq and caught by the scruff of the neck.
At that point, Iraq already had two wins and was likely to finish first in the group, while Japan was in danger of being pushed down to second place.
If things stayed this way, the likelihood was growing that the Round of 16 would see two title favorites clashing.