Former national team defender Jang Hyeon-soo (32, Al Hilal) will face Spain’s La Liga prestigious Real Madrid in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Real Madrid, representing the European Football Federation (UEFA), beat Al Ahli (Egypt), representing the Confederation of African Football Associations (CAF), 4-1 in the semi-finals of the tournament held in Rabat, Morocco on the 9th (Korean time). Real Madrid will play the final at 4:00 am on the 12th with Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia), the representative of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), who defeated ‘South American champion’ Flamengo 3-2 the previous day.
It is a very honorable stage for Jang Hyun-soo. In the 2010s, he played an active part in the national team at each level of Korea, and in 2018, he received a severe punishment of permanent disqualification from the national team player for manipulating documents for military service special cases. Coach Paulo Bento, who led the Korean national team until last year, also used Jang Hyeon-soo as an intermediary at the beginning of his appointment, but he could not use it more as he was disciplined. However, since then, he has been steadily building his club career. In 2019, wearing the prestigious Al-Hilal uniform of Saudi Arabia, he played as a multi-agent in the defense team and won the league title for three consecutive seasons after joining. In addition, the AFC Champions League also experienced two wins (2019 2021) and stepped on the stage of the Club World Cup, and through this competition, the first FIFA-sponsored final of the career was played. It also faces Real Madrid, which is called the ‘dream club’.
The best ever performance of an AFC club in the Club World Cup was runner-up to Kashima Antlers (Japan) in the 2016 tournament and Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) in the 2018 tournament. On the other hand, Real Madrid holds the record for winning the tournament four times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), the most in history. Against Al-Hilal, he aims for his fifth trophy in five years and in his career.
Real Madrid took the lead 2-0 with Vinicius Junior’s opening goal in the 42nd minute of the first half and Federico Valverde’s additional goal in the 1st minute of the second half. In the 20th minute of the second half, the opponent conceded a goal from a penalty kick, but in the second half of extra time, Rodrygo and Sergio Aribas successively sniped Al Ahly’s goal, winning the game by three goals. 메이저사이트