"If They Focus on Me, It Will Create Opportunities for Better Players"

[Anchor]

The Mexican media has identified Hwang In-beom as the number one player to watch on our national team. Upon hearing this, Hwang boosted team morale by stating that if the opposing team focuses their defensive efforts on him, it will only create more opportunities for his teammates.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the story.

[Reporter]

Hwang In-beom, who led the team to its first World Cup opening match victory in 16 years with a stellar performance of one goal and one assist against the Czech Republic, attended the official press conference as the team representative and expressed strong confidence, noting that the analysis of Mexico is complete.

[Hwang In-beom/National Football Team Midfielder: "They are a team with completely different characteristics (from the Czech Republic), and I think (Mexico) has a very fast transition speed. We have been preparing by focusing on those aspects."]

When asked about being singled out by the Mexican media as the player to watch, he predicted that it would actually work in our favor.

[Hwang In-beom/National Football Team Midfielder: "I hope they pay a lot of attention to me. Since we have many other great players on our team, I think that will only create more opportunities for them."]

Regarding Santiago Giménez, his former Feyenoord teammate who scored a wonder goal against our national team in a friendly match, Hwang expressed caution while also noting:

[Hwang In-beom/National Football Team Midfielder: "I know he is such a good player, and I can briefly share with (our defenders) what aspects we need to be careful about."]

He expressed his confidence in the ironclad defense led by his close friend Kim Min-jae.

[Hwang In-beom/National Football Team Midfielder: "I can say that I trust all the players, as Min-jae leads the center well and the players next to him also help with the defense."]

Hwang promised to gift the public another happy day, just as they did in the first match against the Czech Republic.

[Hwang In-beom/National Football Team Midfielder: "I think I felt that we had done something truly valuable. I think the World Cup is a stage that gives us the motivation to enter the next match with the thought, 'We made so many people happy and helped them start their day well.'"]

(Video reporting: Hwang In-seok | Video editing: Park Jeong-sam | Design: Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.