# JEONG HO-YEON IS 'BETTER THAN LEE SUN-MIN'... LEE JEONG-HYO-HO BECOMES THE '2nd NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE' AT GWANGJU FC' Hangzhou Gold Medal Collaboration' played in front of interim coach Hwang Seon-hong and was selected to the national team “We are trying to make (national team players) again this year. First of all, the team’s performance must be good. Then, we will receive attention and many people will come to our games.” **[파워볼사이트](https://www.powerballsite.com)** This is what coach Lee Jeong-hyo of professional soccer K-League 1 Gwangju FC left to reporters before the opening match of the 2024 season against FC Seoul on the 2nd. In Gwangju, which ranked 3rd in the club's first division history last season, Lee Soon-min was selected by former national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann and had the honor of wearing the national flag. With Lee Soon-min transferring to Daejeon Hana Citizen ahead of the 2024 season, Gwangju again became a team without a single national team player. As the new season begins, Coach Lee expressed his strong ambition to produce another national team player. However, when asked who that player was, he avoided further comment. Ten days after that, Gwangju under coach Lee became the 'No. 2' player on the national team. This is midfielder Jeong Ho-yeon, who worked with Lee Sun-min in midfield last season. On the 11th, [coach Hwang Seon-hong](https://www.behance.net/gallery/194338243/Countdown-in-Professional-Baseball), the 'temporary head coach' of the national soccer team, announced the national team list that will participate in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifying round match against Thailand at the Soccer Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 11th and called out Jeong Ho-yeon. Unfortunately, Lee Soon-min, who finished accompanying Director Lee, did not receive Director Hwang's call. Coach Lee believes that Jeong Ho-yeon is a better player than Lee Soon-min, who left. After the opening match against Seoul, which won 2-0 thanks to Jeong Ho-yeon's outstanding performance, Coach Lee lightly laughed when asked, "Do you feel Lee Sun-min's absence?" Coach Lee asked, "Have you not seen Jeong Ho-yeon?" and said emphatically, "I think I proved it with my performance today. If she is better (than Lee Sun-min), it doesn't mean she can't be better." In fact, Coach Hwang visited the Gwangju Soccer Stadium at the time to watch Jeong Ho-yeon's performance, and eventually selected him for the national team. Coach Hwang said, “I observed the K-League and kept in mind players who are currently in good condition,” and revealed the reason behind selecting ‘new faces’ such as Jeong Ho-yeon. He continued, “This is a team that needs to deliver the best performance, so the coaching staff reviewed it closely and made the final decision. The door to the national team is always open to players who play in the K-League.” In fact, in this season's K-League, where the first and second rounds were played, Jeong Ho-yeon showed the best performance among the third-line midfielders. This season, Jeong Ho-yeon has established himself as a key resource in coach Lee's unique style of soccer, which emphasizes build-up work from the back. Ho-yeon Jeong, who recorded a pass success rate of 91.6% in two games, also contributed greatly to the defense, blocking the opponent's attack 4.5 times per game. Gwangju, who defeated Seoul 2-0 in the first round through build-up centered on Jeong Ho-yeon, scored 4 goals in the second half of the second match against Gangwon FC and won 4-2. Moreover, Jeong Ho-yeon is a ‘familiar player’ to Coach Hwang. Last year, [Jeong Ho-yeon](https://disqus.com/channel/discusssports/discussion/channel-discusssports/hyundai_engineering_construction_completely_defeats_ibk/) participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games as a member of the U-24 national team and contributed to Hwang Seon-hong winning the gold medal. Jeong Ho-yeon, who won the competition against prominent players of her age at the time, proudly played as a starting player by participating in all seven games of the tournament.