At the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, The Korean team reached the final four to set the best record for an Asian team, and in the round of 16, they eliminated Italy, one of the favorites to win the championship, but the process was full of controversy. In a recent South Korean show, then-South Korean international Lee Tian-so reviewed the match.
In that game, Li Tianxiu kicked Maldini's head on an attack, but he was not punished. Since then, Li Tianxiu has confessed many times that he deliberately kicked people. Speaking about the scene again, Lee said: "Those Italian players are arrogant, they have no one in sight, I feel that they look down on Korean players, and there are Korean players who have been kicked and injured in that game. ”
"The guy I played was called Maldini, he was in a similar position to Huming-fu, both captains. I kicked him, not because he was Maldini, but because he happened to be there. ”