The K-League has another ‘new star’. Jung Mah-ho (Chungnam Asan) was born in 2005.

Chungnam Asan, led by head coach Kim Hyun-seok, played the opening match of the ‘Hana Bank K League 2 2024’ against Suwon Samsung at Suwon World Cup Stadium on March 3. On that day, Kim started rookie Jung Mah-ho, who was born in 2005. It wasn’t because of the U-22 rule. “When I trained him, I thought he was a player who would grow into a good player. He has the skills. If he adapts a little bit, I think he will become a great player in the Korean midfield. 안전카지노사이트 I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

Jung Mah-ho took the field amidst a lot of attention, and he did his job well enough to make it hard to believe it was his K League debut. In particular, he converted Park Dae-hoon’s pass in the 23rd minute of the second half when his team was down 0-1. It was the first goal for Chungnam Asan this season and the first professional goal of his career. Jung Mah-ho was substituted out in the 27th minute of the second half amidst enthusiastic applause from the fans. The game ended in a 1-2 loss for Chungnam Asan.

After the game, Jung said, “If we had won, I would have been able to go home and eat happily…. I play for Chungnam Asan. Team victory is more important than goals. I’m very disappointed.”

Jung Maho is the future that Chungnam Asan is counting on. He was considered the “biggest name” in high school. In his senior year at Shinpyeong High School, he captained the Korean national team to victory at the 2023 Seoul EOU Cup U-18 International Youth Football Tournament. He won the tournament’s top prize. Based on this, he was awarded the Star Award in the soccer category at the 2023 Futures Star Awards.

After scoring his debut and debut goal, Jung said, “I’m not good enough. I need to improve a lot. I will continue to work hard and improve. I hope you’ll pay attention. I didn’t expect so many fans to come. They came from far away and showed a lot of support, but I’m sorry we didn’t win the opening game. We have a home game next week. We’ll work hard to prepare and hopefully get the three points then.”

In fact, what made Jung’s goal even more special was his “connection” with Suwon Samsung. He went to Gwacheon Elementary School and played soccer for Suwon Samsung’s U-12 team before enrolling at Matan Middle School, where he suddenly grew more than 20 centimeters from his small height of 1.60 meters. This was followed by a lot of growing pains, but he reportedly failed to tell the team about it. Eventually, he was dismissed and switched teams. “When I was younger, I briefly played for Suwon Samsung Youth. I was fired at the end of my first year because I didn’t do well. It’s actually good (to score),” he laughs.

“I was very nervous about (making my debut),” said Jeong, who had bloodshot eyes. It was my professional debut, but I calmly judged that the professional world is different. I thought about that a lot. It’s worth it to try it,” he said. Chungnam Asan will face Bucheon FC on the 9th.