“I scored a goal and we won. It was like a dream.”
Pohang Steelers defender Park Seung-wook (26) beamed.
Park scored a celestial header theater goal in second-half stoppage time to break a 1-1 tie and give his team a 2-1 victory over Jeju in the 17th round of the 2023 Hana One Q K League 1 at the Pohang Steel Yard on Saturday.
“It wasn’t my original strategy to go backwards, but the targets were shooting forward, so (Lee) Ho-jae asked me to go backwards, but the cross came to me and I was lucky to score. Ho-jae said that half of the goal was his,” he laughed.
“That day in Jeju was probably the first game of my soccer career, and I was scared of the goal. The players who were only high-fiving me before that came running to me,” he added.
Park Seung-wook’s nickname is “Cinderella. This is because of his meteoric rise from the amateur third division league to the professional first division league. Two summers ago, while playing for Busan Transportation Corporation in the K3 League, Park caught the eye of coach Kim Ki-dong during a practice match against Pohang. At the time, Park fulfilled Kim’s order to “tie up the Palacios.” Soon after, Kim gave him a tryout, and Park fulfilled Kim’s order. “When I put on the Pohang jersey, the coach ordered video footage of many players from the side defenders from an analyst and gave it to me. He told me to follow his orders, so I did, and it helped the team,” Park explained.
Park Seung-wook is what you might call a ‘pot belly’. He is a “multi-resource” who can play not only on the flanks but also as a center back and defensive midfielder. He is an “all-rounder” who can play any position in case of injuries. “I think the nickname ‘Pohang’s treasure’ that fans call me most often sounds good,” Park said.
“I actually like to interfere in neighboring positions. There is something called ‘I want you to do this’. That mindset is helping me,” he said. “Among the side defenders, I was impressed with (Shin) Kwang-hoon’s play. The buildup at the back was done by aligning with the center back line, so I started to see a lot of things in front of me.”먹튀검증
Park was recently accepted into the second round of the Armed Forces Sports Specialist Program. He will enlist on December 4. “I’m excited, but I still have six months to go. I have to fulfill my duties in the second half of the season in Pohang. I will do my best without wavering.”
