“The fact that I gained confidence while experiencing the World Cup has helped me a lot.”
Na Sang-ho (27, Seoul), who is at the forefront of scoring in the K-League 1 (first division) in professional football this season, said this while talking about his scoring ability, which was significantly different from last season. This season, as of the 25th, Na Sang-ho has scored 5 goals (0.63 goals per game) in 8 games, and is tied for the top scorer with Ulsan’s Swedish midfielder Rubiksson (5 goals in 8 games).
Na Sang-ho, who made his professional debut in a Gwangju uniform in 2017, scored 9 goals in 34 games in 2021. Na Sang-ho, who has recently scored goals in four consecutive games, seems to be able to easily achieve a ‘career high’ in the first division this season at the current scoring pace.
In a phone interview on the 24th, Na Sang-ho said, “Through last year’s World Cup in Qatar, I realized that confidence is important in the end.” At the World Cup in Qatar, Na Sang-ho said that he felt a lot of things when he saw world-class wingers dribbling and trying to dribble even if they lost a lot of balls. Winger Na Sang-ho played two games against Uruguay and Ghana in the Qatar World Cup group stage.
Na Sang-ho’s confidence is also revealed in the number of shots this season. Na Sang-ho is averaging 1.8 shots per game with 14 shots in 8 games. He is averaging 0.5 more shots per game than last season (43 in 32 games). There are times when he is out of the net or blocked by the opponent’s defense, but when an opportunity presents itself, he is not afraid to make mistakes and tries to shoot. 스포츠토토
The fact that he increased his muscle mass by 1kg ahead of the start of this season also helped improve his performance. Na Sang-ho said, “I have a constitution that does not gain weight, so even a 1kg increase in muscle mass is a big change for me.”
Na Sang-ho, who was the top scorer in the K-League 2 (2nd division), is also aspiring to become the top scorer in the 1st division. In the match against Suwon on the 22nd, Na Sang-ho, who scored four consecutive games and led the team to a 3-1 victory, said, “It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t greedy for being the top scorer.” Na Sang-ho said, “I try to run even one more step to get more scoring opportunities.” In 2018, Na Sang-ho played for Gwangju, a second division team at the time, scoring 16 goals and becoming the top scorer and was also selected as the MVP. Na Sang-ho has been playing in Seoul since 2021 after passing through Japan’s J-League FC Tokyo and Seongnam.
As of the 25th, Seoul is running in second place with 16 points (5 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses), 3 points behind ‘defending champion’ Ulsan (19 points). Although it is early in the season, it is an unexpected success for Seoul, which finished the league in 9th place last year. In particular, Seoul is tied for first place with Ulsan and Daejeon in scoring with 16 goals in 8 games, including 5 goals by Na Sang-ho. Last year, Seoul’s team score was 11th out of 12 teams in the first division with 43 goals in 38 matches.
Na Sang-ho said, “I feel good because it worked out well at the beginning of the season. Personally, I will be more greedy for attacks,” he said, “I will carefully review the word (team) winning and focus on each game in the future.”