Jun Hyun-moo “Players are not to blame” – Lee Young-pyo gives him 80 points for caster debut

On the 28th, behind-the-scenes footage of the World Cup group stage match 3 commentary, where Jun Hyun-moo acted as a caster, was revealed on the KBS 2TV variety show 'Boss in the Mirror'.

After finishing the commentary for the match against South Africa, Lee Young-pyo and Jun Hyun-moo joined the 'Boss in the Mirror' cheering squad's dinner late after 10 PM. As soon as Lee Young-pyo entered the Korean cuisine restaurant, he apologized on behalf of the football professionals, saying, "I am sorry. We should have won."

When asked if commentary becomes harder when a team is losing, Lee Young-pyo replied, "It is extremely difficult. Today's match was the highest difficulty among all matches I've done. This is because nothing was done properly from the start to the end of the match," revealing that the team players struggled during play.

Jun Hyun-moo, who made his debut as a caster, sighed and said, "It was flustering. I was worried I might make a mistake because I couldn't keep up with the commentary situation, but it was even harder because no situation actually unfolded."

Regarding the South Korean national team, which was being pushed around throughout the match, Jun Hyun-moo tried to make the most hopeful comments possible, but Lee Young-pyo remained silent. Explaining his silence, he said, "The match itself was bad from start to finish, so if I explain it, I have no choice but to keep saying bad things. That's why I ran out of things to say."

He continued with a blunt critique, "Even in a losing game, there is such a thing as 'fighting well despite losing.' This wasn't that kind of match. The match itself was the problem."

Jeong Ho-young mentioned Lee Young-pyo's memorable commentary during the South Africa match: "If you want to score, go to the center." Jun Hyun-moo added, "Young-pyo said it very wittily, but at that moment, he was truly angry. When they were sending in a cross, there was no one in the middle."

Lee Young-pyo revealed, "My voice was calm, but hitting the desk was an expression of frustration. In a situation where I had to repeatedly say bad things, I couldn't find the right words to say. It was quite difficult to handle. I come prepared with various scenarios before a match, but today was truly unexpected."

Lee Young-pyo shook his head, stating, "The biggest problem with the South Africa match, which didn't resolve at all after the 10th minute of the first half, is that you cannot pick just one single problem. It was a total mess to that extent. There was no structure, no purpose could be found, and it was a match where it was hard to see why the players were running on the field. This was the most difficult and incomprehensible match I have ever broadcasted in my long career."

When Lee Kyung-kyu asked about the manager's responsibility, saying, "Since I am not an expert, it sounds strange to say this, but I feel like we lost to manager Hugo Broos," Lee Young-pyo replied, "I believe a manager's influence on whether a match is won or lost is 50%." He emphasized, "It was very flustering that Son Heung-min was excluded from the starting lineup. Son Heung-min, who was brought in during the second half, should have started."

Jun Hyun-moo expressed his regret over the players' inability to fully demonstrate their skills, saying, "We can lose. We can lose, but if we show everything we have and then lose, it's 'good job.' The problem is that we didn't even know what we were doing." When Jun Hyun-moo said, "The players are not to blame," Yang Joon-hyuk agreed.

Lee Young-pyo shared the meaning of big matches, saying, "I realized after retiring and watching from the outside; I didn't know well when I was a player because I only played the matches. On the surface, it looks like the players are participating and running in the World Cup, but in the end, I think the whole country runs. The reason we are this disappointed is not because the players ran and lost, but because we all prepared together and we all lost. I feel like I lost. I realized how much people gathered their hearts and cheered for us. I think that is why we were able to reach the semifinals in 2002."

Lee Kyung-kyu and Yang Joon-hyuk comforted Jun Hyun-moo, who had prepared hard for the commentary, saying, "We prepared so much, yet we couldn't even take a single shot." Jun Hyun-moo expressed regret, noting that because he thought South Africa was a weak team, he thought his voice would go hoarse from shouting 'goal' and 'shot' during the broadcast.

Lee Young-pyo gave Jun Hyun-moo 80 out of 100 points for his caster debut, saying, "The difficulty of the commentary was extreme. Broadcasting a match where you are losing while being unable to do anything from start to finish is the most painful kind of broadcasting, and yesterday's match was like that. Jun Hyun-moo was much better than I thought." Lee Young-pyo added, "After the match, I told Hyun-moo, 'If you can do this commentary, you can do any sports commentary in Korea.' Hyun-moo, you didn't realize it, but I could see your talent as a football caster. Let's work together," suggesting they broadcast an A-match together next time.