Is this all we have?" Ryu Joong-il-ho in shock...First time ever eliminated from the preliminary round, first-time winner somehow collapsed
Is this all we have?" Ryu Joong-il-ho in shock...First time ever eliminated from the preliminary round, first-time winner somehow collapsed
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Korean baseball, which once crossed the Asian No. 1 spot by forming a rivalry with Japan, the "world's No. 1" in international competitions, was in shock.
The South Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il, suffered a humiliating elimination from the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 Group B qualifying round on the 17th, the day of rest.메이저놀이터
Ryu was recording two wins and two losses in the group qualifying round ahead of Tuesday's rest day. Following the 3-6 shock loss against Taiwan on Saturday, his first match, Ryu successfully reversed the mood by meeting Cuba on Sunday, and succumbed to Japan, the strongest team in Group B, 3-6 on Sunday before clinching a 9-6 come-from-behind victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday.
All plans were twisted when the team lost to Taiwan, which was considered a watershed moment for advancing to the Super Round, which will give the team up to the second place in the group. It met the Dominican Republic with one win and two losses, and staged a thrilling upset to overturn 0-6 to 9-6, briefly hoping to go to Tokyo, but the number of cases of advancing to the Super Round disappeared as Japan and Taiwan both won the Japan-Cuba match and Taiwan-Australia match on Thursday.
As of Wednesday morning, the middle rankings of Group B were Japan (4 wins), Taiwan (3 wins, 1 loss), Korea (2 wins, 2 losses), Australia (1 wins, 3 losses), Australia (1 wins, 3 losses), the Dominican Republic (1 wins, 3 losses), and Cuba (1 wins, 3 losses). Japan and Taiwan have confirmed their advance to the Super Round, and Korea is now in the final match that has nothing to do with Australia at 1 p.m. on the 18th (Korea time). Even if Korea grabs Australia on the 1st and Taiwan loses to Cuba and ties with Cuba 3 wins and 2 losses, they will not be able to rank second due to the winner's rule.
As a result, South Korea, the first winner of the 2015 Premier 12 tournament, suffered the humiliation of not passing the group qualifying round in the third tournament following the runner-up in the second tournament in 2019.
The decisive factor in the Taipei disaster was the loss of the first match against Taiwan.
Ryu Joong-il focused all his focus on training against Taiwan in order not to repeat the pain of losing the first round of the WBC (World Baseball Classic) Israel in 2017 and the first round of the 2023 WBC Australia. Unusually, he entered Taiwan, a showdown site, on the 8th, five days before the first match on the 13th, and had enough time to adapt to the field through training and practice games with Taiwanese professional teams, and spent a lot of time analyzing his power after predicting the Taiwanese selection as Lin Yu-min early on.
The atmosphere of the national team consisting of young players was also evaluated as the best in the recent international competition. The players, led by veterans Park Dong-won, Ko Young-pyo, Lim Chan-kyu and captain Song Sung-moon, conducted training sessions in Gocheok Sky Dome and Taiwan in a brighter atmosphere than ever. Under the leadership of the veterans, they held group meetings once in Gocheok and Taipei to promote unity. KBO also paid for both dinners and made every effort to support the team.
Nevertheless, Ryu suffered a shock loss in his first game against Taiwan. Under the analysis that Taiwanese hitters were weak against sidearm pitchers, Ko Young-pyo, a "10.7 billion won submarine," was given a chance to start the game, but he was hit by grand slam and two-run homeruns in succession in the second inning and suffered an early substitute loss of six runs in two innings. While suppressing extra runs by Taiwan through strong bullpen, the Korean team narrowed the gap to 3-6, but it was not enough to overcome the starting pitcher's six runs.
In fact, Ryu Joong-il's chances of advancing to the Super Round have slimmed down since then. As expected, Ryu defeated Cuba and the Dominican Republic to lose to Japan, but his team lost in the first game, which was not in the scenario for advancing to the Super Round, confirming his qualification tag even before the final game. As Japan and Taiwan overwhelmed Cuba and Australia, respectively, the dream of advancing to the Super Round collapsed.
In addition, Ryu Joong-il has never played a starting baseball in the past four games. Starting with the collapse of six runs in two innings by ace Ko Young-pyo against Taiwan, Kwak Bin failed to complete the fifth inning with four scoreless innings, and Choi Seung-yong, the starter against Japan, also suffered from an early replacement of two runs in one ⅔. And even Lim Chan-kyu, who is strong in big games against the Dominican Republic on the 16th, passed the baton early with three runs in three innings.
All of them are top-rated starting pitchers dubbed as ace pitchers, multiple wins, and free agent pitchers in Korea. However, appearing on the international stage, they have become B-class starting pitchers who cannot even play five innings. They struggled not only once their batters took a turn, let alone five innings.