On January 1, Beijing time, J-League powerhouse Gamba Osaka officially announced that South Korean player Kwon Kyung-won officially joined the team. The central defender, who used to play for Tianjin Tianhai, returned to South Korea in 2019 from the Chinese Super League for military service. Although the fate with Tianjin football has come to an end, the performance of heavy love and righteousness when playing has made Tianjin fans very concerned about him.
In the just-concluded K League, Kwon Jingyuan made 18 appearances for Seongnam FC, averaging 3 clearances and 1.4 steals per game, 2 times to the K League's best team, and on the offensive end, he also contributed 1 goal and 1 assist. Seongnam FC, in the penultimate position in the regular season, defeated Gangwon FC by 1 point in the relegation play-off and successfully landed. At the end of the season, Kwon Kyung-won, who became a free agent, was also targeted by several clubs. Although Jeonbuk Hyundai's desire to find a partner for the league MVP Hong Just has a strong desire, they are reluctant to break the salary system based on Hong, and Gamba Osaka has prepared a generous salary and bonus for Kwon Keih-won. Kwon Eventually declined the kindness of his old club and went to play for the J-League for the first time in his career.
However, anyone familiar with Kwon Kyung-won knows that he has never been a player who only talks about money. In 2022, in addition to choosing a stable club for himself, Kwon Kyung-won's most important task is to represent the South Korean team in the Qatar World Cup, so his choice also has a lot to do with this. Four years ago in the World Cup in Russia, Kwon Kyung-won was defeated at the last minute, which also became the biggest regret of his career. Now, in order to facilitate the training and competition of the national team, Kwon Kyongwon did not choose to go to the West Asian League to pan for gold, but chose to go east to Japan to play in the J League. It is worth mentioning that the main competitor of Kwon Kyung-won in the national team at present is the former Guangzhou team foreign aid Kim Young-kuen, and Osaka Gamba chose to pursue Kwon Kyung-won after letting go of Kim Young-kwon.
For Kwon Kyung-won, like his predecessor Kim Young-kwon, feeling the atmosphere of the J League and accumulating experience in different league matches is undoubtedly beneficial to his competition in the national team. In the national team, Kim Young-kwon and Kwon Kyung-won also showed a trend of one after the other. Under Paul Bento, the pair of Kim Hyun-jae and Kim Young-kwon was once the first choice for the main centre-back, but the 31-year-old Kim Young-kwon is in a much worse state due to frequent injuries. In the two round of 12 matches in November 2021, Kim Young-kwon was absent due to injury, and Bento finally chose Kwon Kyung-won as the starter. As a result, the centre-back combination of Kwon Kyung-won and Kim Hyun-jae was extremely solid, achieving two consecutive clean sheets, helping the team to beat the UAE 1-0 and Iraq 3-0.
No. 20 Kwon Kyung-won
In the two tough battles, Kwon's performance added a lot to Paul Bento's heart, which is not difficult to see from the details of the game. In South Korea's 1-0 win over the UAE, Bento even replaced Kim Hyun-jae with Park Ji-so instead of Kwon Kyung-won. Then against the Iraqi team, Kwon Kyung-won repaid the manager's trust with a more outstanding performance, and in the whole game, the South Korean team completed 11 clearances, and Kwon Kyung-won alone contributed 6 times. After two World Preliminary Tournaments, Kwon Kyung-won also quickly conquered the hearts of the Korean media and fans, and he also took the lead in the competition with Park Ji-so and Jung Seung-hyun.
Before the start of the 2021 season, Kwon Kyung-won suffered an injury, and he not only missed Theo Kim Izumi's pre-season training camp, but also missed him for a long time at the beginning of the season. At that time, due to his retirement in the middle of the year, he gradually faded out of the team's main list, and the long-term situation of not having the ball to play had a big impact on his national team career, and he missed the World Preliminary Round of 40. However, with his joining Seongnam FC in July, he not only found his form in just a few months, but also proved himself in the national team, and Kwon Jingyuan ignited the flame of hope for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
When he played in Tianjin that year, Kwon Jingyuan was selected for the national team many times, but he did not catch the last train of the South Korean team's 2018 World Cup roster at the last moment. Regret buried in the heart for four years, the first day of 2022, Kwon Kyung-won in Osaka Gamba started a new football career, but also hope that he can fulfill his dream of participating in the World Cup in this year, Tianjin people will always bless the South Korean Iron Guard who "kneels" to thank the fans at the Water Drop Stadium.