Lee Keun-Ho

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.

Lee Keun-ho (born: April 11, 1985 in Incheon) is a South Korean football player who currently plays for Jubilo Iwata in the J. League and Korea Republic national football team.

[edit] Personal Life

Lee Keun-ho is well-known for his friendship with Jeonbuk Hyundai midfielder Ha Dae-Sung. Having played together in elementary, middle, and high school, they also played together at Daegu FC. His older brother Lee Won-ho is coaching a local side in Incheon.

[edit] Club Career

Lee Keun-ho played for Boo-Kyung High School as a teenager, lifting three trophies with Kim Seung-Yong, now playing for FC Seoul. After graduating Boo-Kyung high school, Lee joined his hometown club, Incheon United in 2004. However, he was surplus to requirement, and usually stayed in the reserve squad.

In 2006 season, he was nominated as the Best Player in the R-League, the Korean reserves league for Incheon Reserves. Then, Daegu FC's manager Byun Byung-joo signed him at the beginning of 2007 season. Newly appointed manager Byun Byung-Joo brought intensively aggressive football to Daegu, named "Bullet Football" and Lee began to claim the spotlight with his powerful dribbles. In his first season, he came 7th in the top scorers chart, then came 5th in the 2008 season. In both seasons, he was top scoring South Korean in the league. During his two seasons at Daegu, he quickly became the fans' favourite, and was nicknamed "Son of the Sun" since the sun is the symbol of Daegu. In his last game for Daegu, against Pohang Steelers in the semi-final of Korean FA Cup, he played full-time even with injury, but failed to rescue his side from a defeat.

Daegu wanted to keep Lee but Lee was willing to move to Europe, so in December 2008, Lee's contract with Daegu FC expired, meaning he became a free agent. Several clubs from all over the world voiced their interest in acquiring his talents.

He was offered a trial at English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, however he turned them down as he was not sure whether he was ready for such a tough challenge yet. In February 2009, it was again rumoured that Blackburn Rovers would be interested in signing the still Free Agent Lee Keun-ho, but again, he rejected the opportunity.

However, the transfer window in Europe was nearing its end, and Lee had to find a club to play to keep his form.

In April 2009, Lee signed for Júbilo Iwata, on a 9 months contract.^[1][2] He was quite criticized by Korean fans, because he used to say he would never move to Japan, but most of them understood his situation later. On his debut match, he scored two goals and made an assist.

He was a sensation in Jubilo Iwata where he provided 6 goals and 4 assists in his first 6 league games. He was referred to as "God of Jubilo", or "Messiah". He is best remembered for the spectacular solo goal against Omiya Ardija where he dribbled through the opposition defender and the keeper before slotting the ball in from a narrow angle.

In June 2009, he has been linked to Paris Saint-Germain in the French League 1.

[edit] International Career

Lee was selected for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in Netherlands. However, for most matches, he remained in the bench, not playing a single match in the group stage, while his team-mate Park Chu-Young made good impressions.

Lee was confirmed in the Olympics squad in 2006, and becamed the most valuable player in the squad to qualify for the Olympic games. He was selected for the 2007 Asian Cup. He also capped for the Korea Republic U-23 football team in qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

On 29 June 2007, Lee Keun-ho made his A-Match debut in a friendly against Iraq through substitution in the second half. Along with fellow teammates Yeom Ki-Hoon and Lee Chun-Soo, Lee also managed to score his debut goal with an assist made by Lee Chun-Soo. ^[3]

On October 11, 2008, Lee Keun-ho scored two goals in an international friendly against Uzbekistan. The game ended in a 3-0 victory for Korea Republic.

On October 15, 2008, Lee scored two goals in 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification against United Arab Emirates. The game ended 4-1 for Korea.

On November 19, 2008, Lee scored the most important goal in his international career yet in an away game against Saudi Arabia, which ended Korea Republic's nineteen-year spell against Saudi Arabia.

[edit] Club career statistics

As of May 24, 2009

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	June 29, 2007	Seogwipo, South Korea	Iraq	3-0	3-0	Friendly match
2	October 11, 2008	Suwon, South Korea	Uzbekistan	2-0	3-0	Friendly match
3	October 11, 2008	Suwon, South Korea	Uzbekistan	3-0	3-0	Friendly match
4	October 15, 2008	Seoul, South Korea	United Arab Emirates	1-0	4-1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	October 15, 2008	Seoul, South Korea	United Arab Emirates	3-1	4-1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	November 19, 2008	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	0-1	0-2	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	February 4, 2009	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Bahrain	2-2	2-2	Friendly match
8	March 28, 2009	Suwon, South Korea	Iraq	2-1	2-1	Friendly match

[edit] References

1. ^ 이근호, 주빌로 이와타 이적확정…계약기간 9개월 (Korean)
2. ^ 李 根 鎬（イ グノ）選手の移籍加入内定 (Japanese)
3. ^ 베어벡호, 이라크에 3-0 완승…이천수 1골 1도움 (Korean)

[edit] External links

• K-League Player Record (Korean)
• National Team Player Record (Korean)
• FIFA Player Statistics
• Club & Country Statistics

Lee Keun-ho - Navigation boxes v • d • e South Korea squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup Third Place 1 Lee Woon‑Jae • 2 Song Chong‑Gug • 3 Kim Jin‑Kyu • 4 Kim Dong‑Jin • 6 Lee Ho • 7 Choi Sung‑Kuk • 8 Kim Do‑Heon • 9 Cho Jae‑Jin • 10 Lee Chun‑Soo • 11 Lee Keun‑Ho • 12 Lee Dong‑Gook • 13 Kim Chi‑Gon • 14 Kim Sang‑Sik • 15 Kim Chi‑Woo • 16 Oh Beom‑Seok • 17 Kim Jung‑Woo • 18 Woo Sung‑Yong • 19 Yeom Ki‑Hun • 20 Son Dae‑Ho • 21 Kim Yong‑Dae • 22 Kang Min‑Soo • 23 Jung Sung‑Ryong • 27 Oh Jang‑Eun • Coach: Verbeek v • d • e South Korea squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Jung Sung-Ryong • 2 Shin Kwang-Hoon • 3 Kim Dong-Jin • 4 Kang Min-Soo • 5 Kim Chang-Soo • 6 Kim Jin-Kyu • 7 Oh Jang-Eun • 8 Kim Jung-Woo • 9 Shin Young-Rok • 10 Park Chu-Young • 11 Lee Chung-Yong • 12 Ki Sung-Yong • 13 Kim Seung-Yong • 14 Baek Ji-Hoon • 15 Kim Kun-Hoan • 16 Cho Young-Cheol • 17 Lee Keun-Ho • 18 Song Yoo-Geol • Coach: Park Seong-Hwa

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