Lee Woon-jae
Lee Woon-jae (Korean::이운재; born 26 April 1973) is a South Korean former football goalkeeper. He was part of South Korea's 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup campaigns. He was the only Asian player nominated for the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century (2001–2011).
Contents
- 1 International career
- 2 Style of play
- 3 Career statistics
- 3.1 Club
- 3.2 International
- 4 Filmography
- 4.1 Television
- 5 Honours
- 6 See also
- 7 Notes
- 8 References
- 9 External links
International career
Lee was a part of the South Korea squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was subs*uted into the game against Germany for the starting goalkeeper Choi In-young and did not concede a goal in 45 minutes. After the 1994 World Cup, he suffered from tuberculosis and hepa*is and worried that his playing career might end. Luckily, he made a recovery and came back to the national team in 1998.
Lee was selected for Guus Hid*'s squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as the first-choice goalkeeper after the rivalry against Kim Byung-ji. He appeared all of seven matches until the third place play-off, and kept three clean sheets against Poland, Portugal and Spain in the tournament. He made the history of South Korean football in the quarter-finals against Spain. After the match was ended without a goal until extra time, Lee blocked Spain's fourth shot taken by Joaquín in the penalty shoot-out. South Korea defeated Spain 5–3 on penalties, becoming the first-ever Asian team to advance to the semi-finals in the World Cup. South Korea finished fourth place in the tournament.
Lee captained South Korea at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in place of the injured Kim Nam-il. He kept clean sheets in all of South Korea's games in the knockout stage and saved a total of three penalties in shoot-outs (two against Iran and one against *an). He was selected as the goalkeeper of the All-Star XI. However, he was suspended from the national team for a year, because he sneaked out from his hotel room and went on a drinking binge in an Indonesian bar along with teammates Kim Sang-sik, Woo Sung-yong and Lee Dong-gook before the match against Bahrain, which South Korea lost.
Lee is one of two players (the other being Rigobert Song of Cameroon) to be selected for four World Cups from 1994 to 2010. He is one of seven players from Asia to play in four different World Cups. He played his last game for the national team in a friendly against Nigeria on 11 August 2010 in a 2–1 victory and subsequently retired from international football.
Style of play
Nicknamed the "Spider Hand" in South Korea, Lee is regarded as one of the greatest South Korean goalkeepers of all time. He didn't have height and rapid pace, but showed great judgment and the harmonies with defenders. He was also noted for his predictive ability and this made him strong on the penalty shoot-out. In shoot-outs of the K League, he won 92% of matches (11 out of 12) and saved 45% of shots. (26 out of 58)
Career statistics
Club
Source:
International
Source:
Filmography
Television
Honours
Suwon Samsung Bluewings
- K League 1: 1998, 1999, 2004, 2008
- Korean FA Cup: 2002, 2009, 2010
- Korean League Cup: 1999, 1999+, 2005, 2008
- Korean Super Cup: 1999, 2005
- Asian Club Championship: 2001–02
- Asian Super Cup: 2002
- A3 Champions Cup: 2005
- Pan-Pacific Championship: 2009
Sangmu FC
- Korean Semi-professional Championship: 2001
South Korea U23
- Asian Games bronze medal: 2002
South Korea B
- Summer Universiade silver medal: 1993
- East Asian Games: 1993
South Korea
- FIFA World Cup fourth place: 2002
- AFC Asian Cup third place: 2000, 2007
- EAFF Championship: 2003
Individual
- K League 1 Best XI: 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008
- EAFF Championship Best Goalkeeper: 2005
- AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 2007
- K League 1 Most Valuable Player: 2008
- Korean FA Cup Most Valuable Player: 2009
- AFC Opta Best XI of All Time (FIFA World Cup): 2020
See also
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
Notes
References
External links
- Lee Woon-jae – K League stats at kleague.com (in Korean)
- Lee Woon-jae – National Team Stats at KFA (in Korean)
- Lee Woon-jae – FIFA compe*ion record (archived)
- Lee Woon-jae at National-Football-Teams.com
- International Appearances & Goals
- Naver Sports Record (in Korean)