South Korea s national gate Song Fangen: I don t want to admit to being behind, but Japanese football is indeed worth learning from South Korea

August 13th In an interview with South Korean media OSEN, South Korean national goalkeeper Song Fangen admitted that Japanese football is indeed ahead of South Korea.

Song Fangen, who joined Jeonbuk Hyundai in 2018, challenged the Japanese J League in 2022. After two years of playing in Hunan, he returned to his parent team in December last year.

Song Fangen, who returned to the parent team, said: "When I was in Jeonbuk, I had many players and was very familiar with Lee Seung-woo, so it didn't take too long to adapt. I want to apply what I saw in Japan to the K League and play smarter."

Even the national team goalkeepers think that the J League system is very outstanding. Song Fangen pointed out: "Japan is serious about football. In order to reduce the injury or risk of players, they carry out long-term management. Respecting the various facilities and systems of players is good. There are also many things such as player training programs. There are many trainings I experienced for the first time after going to Japan. We should learn more and learn more."

The Korean national team suffered a three-game losing streak against Japan for the first time in history. Even in the East Asian Cup, which consists primarily of local players, Japan won. Song Fangen admitted: "To be honest, I don't want to admit (South Korea lags behind Japan), and I don't want to admit that the K League is not as good as the J League and the environment is worse. But there is indeed something worth learning."

said that South Korea is worse than Japan in terms of physical and psychological qualities, which is a thing of the past. The Japanese team with excellent skills is now physically comparable to South Korea. Song Fangen said: "Japanese players have done a lot of physical training required for football. They have introduced a lot of (training) methods taught in Europe. I heard that because there are many European players, I have a lot of communication with the German Center."