Hwang Hee-chan (27) commented on the new nickname.
The men’s national team, coached by Jürgen Klinsmann (59), will face Tunisia at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Nov. 13. On the 17th, they will play Vietnam at Suwon World Cup Stadium. On the 9th, Klinsmann convened the players at the National Training Center (NFC) in Paju.
Three days before the match, the team trained on the 10th, and right before that, Hwang Hee-chan spoke to the media on behalf of the team.
Hwang is currently ranked third in scoring in the English Premier League (EPL), the world’s biggest stage, with five goals, including the game-winning goal against Manchester City.
On September 29, Pep Guardiola, 52, one of the world’s greatest managers, said in his pre-match press conference, “A lot of people think (Wolverhampton’s poor start to the season) will give City an easy win. How do you see it and what are your thoughts on Wolverhampton’s start to the season?” he was asked.
Guardiola replied: “I say this with great respect. We have always struggled against Wolverhampton. Wolverhampton have individual players of exceptional quality. Pedro Neto, Mateusz Cunha, and that Korean guy (Hwang Hee-chan, The Korean Guy) are really good.”
He meant to be respectful, but he couldn’t remember Hwang’s name. In the game that followed, Hwang had a great game, including the aforementioned goal, and in the postgame press conference, Guardiola referred to him correctly as Hwang. Thus, Hwang was nicknamed The Korean Guy.
Hwang Hee-chan said, “I’m glad that it’s a positive nickname because it seems to come out just when you get bored of nicknames, and I think it’s also positive because it’s a way to promote Korea. I think it was fun and happy to get a good result against a good team,” he said.레고토토
“Actually, I watched Pep Guardiola’s pre-match interview before the game because a lot of my friends sent it to me. I always try to find something to motivate me before the game, whether it’s something negative or something positive. Maybe I didn’t remember that part in the moment, but I was grateful that the best coach mentioned that I was a good player. I think I gained confidence before the match.”
Hwang Hee-chan added, “I got a lot of responses locally, and the club also made T-shirts and gave them to me (laughs). Now that I’m in the national team, I’m preparing to score offensive points because I’m a striker. I hope to be able to help the team a little bit more in terms of performance, so I will try to help the team.”