Japanese national soccer team’s rising star Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) mentioned his ‘best friend’ Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain).
Japanese media ‘Soccer Digest’ released the interview content on the 12th (Korean time)
saying, “Kubo revealed his conversation with his best friend Lee Kang-in.”
As the final preparations for the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup continue in Qatar 토토사이트

Kubo was interviewed by reporters after a full training session on the 11th and was asked about Lee Kang-in.
In the past, Kubo worked with Lee Kang-in in Mallorca (Spain). In 2021, Kubo was loaned to Mallorca from Real Madrid, and Lee Kang-in left Valencia
where he had played for a long time, and started a new home.
The two players were born in 2001 and were the most highly anticipated players in each country, with the commonality of being left-footed.
Korea and Japan are eternal enemies, but the two players showed off their affection by living together on their respective teams and showed their closeness by posting photos taken together on social media.
Kubo smiled and replied, “We have talked about meeting Lee Kang-in again in the past about meeting Lee Kang-in again.
There are many cases where Korea and Lee Kang-in can meet in the Asian Cup finals,” and added, “If we win the Asian Cup finals, we will meet afterward.
I think we can concede at least a draw in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16,” he said.
In this tournament, Korea is in Group E and Japan is in Group D. If the two teams pass the group stage in first place, they will meet in the finals.
Accordingly, Kubo showed his desire to help Japan win the Asian Cup.
At the same time, they seemed to be looking forward to a confrontation between their teams.
The two players’ teams will face each other in the round of 16 of the Champions League starting in February.
The first game will be played at the home stadium in Paris on February 15th.
Even in the match against Paris, Kubo said it was a ‘draw’ and expressed his determination not to lose when he meets Lee Kang-in as an enemy.
The Japanese national soccer team, led by coach Hajime Moriyasu, brought players participating in the Asian Cup to their country and held an evaluation match as the European soccer stage entered a break.
On the 1st, they showed off their firepower by beating Thailand 5-0 at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
Then, on the 9th, they moved to Doha, Qatar, and played a closed-door friendly match against Jordan at Al-Ersal Stadium
winning 6-1, and maintaining their upward trend with 10 consecutive wins in the recent international match, getting ahead of the Asian Cup schedule.
Japan also has Jürgen Klinsmann, who boasts unprecedented power, including Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Lee Jae-seong (Mainz), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Hwang In-beom (Crvena Zvezda), and Cho Kyu-sung (Midtjylland).
We have assembled a top-notch team of players.
Including Kubo, Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Doan Ritz (Freiburg), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting), etc.
on the European stage. A large number of players who are performing at a high level were named.
Like Korea, Japan also plans to do its best to aim for the championship.
Japan has won the Asian Cup four times in total, with the last win being 13 years ago.
We plan to aim for the top spot in Asia by leveraging our solid organizational capabilities under Coach Moriyasu’s regime
which will continue from the 2022 Qatar World Cup.