It was a tournament that once again confirmed that the ace of the Korean men’s volleyball team was Heo Soo-bong. However, it was confirmed that Heo Soo-bong stood out too much, which was not a good direction for the team.
The 2022 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Volleyball Challenger Cup, held in Seoul in July last year, was the first international competition held in Korea in four years after the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL). 토토 Although Korea did not win the VNL promotion ticket, which is only given to first place, as it finished third in the tournament, it gained an ace to lead the national team in the future. It was Heo Soo-bong. Heo Soo-bong raised his value by playing a big role in the match against Australia and the Czech Republic, where Korea won.
A year later, the men’s national volleyball team competed in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) men’s championship held in Urmia, Iran. The presence of ace Heo Soo-bong was still there. Starting with Bangladesh on the 19th (15 points), Pakistan on the 21st (26 points), Indonesia on the 23rd (30 points), China on the 24th (15 points), and Taiwan on the 25th (28 points). He was the only player on the national team to score.
He wasn’t just scoring high. The success rate was also high. He recorded an attack success rate of over 50% in all matches except for the match against China (45.16%), where he struggled with the opponent’s height while physically under load. In particular, in the 5th and 6th place match against Taiwan, he recorded a terrifying attack success rate of 80.65%. Heo Soo-bong performed well in various fields, adding a total of 6 serve points and 10 blocking points in 5 games.
However, the fact that Heo Soo-bong’s performance stood out in this competition also means that on the other hand, he did not show much positive side. In particular, the lack of offensive power in the center was disappointing. With the exception of Lim Dong-hyuk’s A fast break, the fast break was not a meaningful offensive option for Korea throughout the tournament. The pipe breathing of Hwang Taek-eui and strikers also had a lot of ups and downs. When the center could not be used as desired, the opposing team’s blockers were able to focus on left and right attacks while excluding one of the three attack directions. .
The game that caught on in this situation was the 6th round against China. Heo Soo-bong, who had already scored 71 points in the previous three games and was getting tired little by little, had to deal with China’s blocking wall was too high. China’s blockers had to be tied to the center through fast attacks and pipes to create an offensive course, but Korea’s center attack was blunt in this match as well. However, the passes to Heo Soo-bong were not always neat. In the end, Heo Soo-bong’s attack, which was intensively checked in the clutch situation in the second half of the set, was either blocked or made a mistake, and Korea failed to advance to the semifinals.
This tournament ended in 5th place, but Korea still has one more important international tournament left. It is the Hangzhou Asian Games. Through this competition, Korea was able to learn two things. One is that Ace Heo Soo-bong’s skill is at the top level in Asia, and the other is that the national team’s central attacking option is poor, so the pressure on Heo Soo-bong is growing too much.
In the end, it seems that Korea’s performance in the Asian Games will be determined by how much attacking options in the center can be reinforced. That shouldn’t happen, but if the opponent’s two-three blocks cling to Heo Soo-bong at every juncture, excluding the center, and Korean setters continue to raise the ball to Heo Soo-bong, it is impossible for Korea to win a medal. It is time for setters and manager Lim Do-heon to awaken.