‘Pohang treasure’ Park Seung-wook: “I scored and won, it was like a dream”
“I scored and we won. It’s like a dream.”
Pohang Steelers defender Park Seung-wook (26) beamed.
The defender scored a celestial header theatre goal in second-half stoppage time to lift Pohang Steelers to a 2-1 victory over Jeju in their 2023 Hana One Q K League 1 Round 17 home match at the Pohang Steel Yard on 6 June.
“It wasn’t my original strategy to go backwards, but the targets were shooting forwards, so (Lee) Ho-jae asked me to go backwards, and then the cross came to me and I was lucky to score,” Park said. Ho-jae said that half of the goal was his,” he laughed.
“That day in Jeju was probably the first game of my football career, and I was scared of the goal. The players who were only high-fiving me before that came running to me,” he added.메이저놀이터
Park’s nickname is Cinderella. This is because of his meteoric rise from the amateur third division to the professional first division. Two summers ago, while playing for Busan Transport Corporation in the K3 League, Park caught the eye of coach Kim Ki-dong during a practice match against Pohang. At the time, Park fulfilled Kim’s order to “tie up the Palacios.” Soon after, Kim gave him a tryout, and he fulfilled Kim’s order. “When I put on the Pohang jersey, the coach ordered video footage of many players from the side defence from the analyst and gave it to me. He told me to follow his orders, so I did, and it helped the team,” Park explained.
Park Seung-wook is a ‘pot belly’. He is a ‘multi-resource’ player who can play as a centre-back and defensive midfielder as well as a flanker. He is an “all-rounder” who can play in any position in the event of an injury. “I think the nickname ‘Pohang’s treasure’ that the fans call me most often sounds good,” Park said.
“I actually like to interfere in the next position. There is something called ‘I want you to do this’. That mindset is helping me,” he said. “Among the side defenders, I was impressed with (Shin) Kwang-hoon’s play. The build-up at the back was done by aligning with the centre-back line, so I started to see a lot of things in front of me.”
Park was recently accepted into the second round of the Armed Forces Sports Specialist programme. He will enlist on 4 December. “I’m excited, but I still have six months to go. I have to do my best in the second half of the season in Pohang. I will do my best without wavering.”