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Lee Jae Sung (center) versus Essen: Man with intuition
Photo:
LEON KUEGELER / AFP
The celebrations began in Kiel six hours before their team arrived.
Immediately after the final whistle of the quarter-final in the DFB Cup against Rot-Weiss Essen, which had been won 3-0, several dozen Holstein fans got into their vehicles to celebrate the "historic event" (Kiel coach Ole Werner) with a car parade.
For the first time in the club's history, a Kiel team is in the cup semi-finals.
The whole thing was illuminated by a large fireworks display that was burned down behind the east stand of the Kiel stadium.
The celebrations were over long before midnight - at a time when the Kiel team buses were just halfway between Essen and the Schleswig-Holstein state capital.
Thick fog in the greater Kiel area had thwarted the original plans to use the plane.
After all: Werner had allowed "a couple of bottles of beer" for the bus trip.
After all, you have "something to celebrate".
Despite an incorrectly given penalty to make it 1-0, the Kielers were the deserved winners against Essen and thus continue their extraordinary story in this cup season.
In the second round, the North Germans sensationally threw the record cup winner Bayern Munich out of the competition.
At that time they had to work out to the point of absolute exhaustion.
Against the fourth division Essen, a concentrated appearance by a team that combines tactical discipline and game culture was enough.
Read more about Kiel's playing style here and more about coach Ole Werner here.
Even on this evening, when at the end of the furiously charging Essenes attacked every Kiel player carrying the ball like a swarm of hornets, Werner's team hardly made a bad pass.
Even under pressure and outnumbered, Kiel built the game cleanly and skillfully from behind.
It is precisely this ball security that has made Holstein a top team in the second division.
There the club is tied with leaders Bochum in second place.
There are a few interesting players in this team: For example, the former Fin Bartels from Bremen, who at the age of 34 is blossoming again at his youth club in Kiel.
Or the defense chief Hauke Wahl, whose play structure is amazingly sovereign.
But then there is also a professional who may not be well known, but who could soon change: Lee Jae Sung.
Participated in the German World Cup 2018
The 28-year-old offensive player also stood out against Essen due to his game intelligence.
The South Korean knows intuitively when to slow down, when to shift sides and when to dribble.
He is the pacemaker in Kiel's offensive.
In Essen, Lee managed neither goal nor assist. And in the league, too, he only has four goals in 23 games (plus four assists).
But many of Kiel's 37 goals this season fell after a penultimate pass from Lee.
On the offensive he is one of the best players in the second division.
In 2018, Kiel brought him to the fjord from the South Korean K-League 1.
It was the summer in which German football had to deal with a painful experience: the preliminary round at the World Cup in Russia.
Lee Jae Sung had his part in it.
He was in the starting line-up for the 2-0 South Koreans in the last group game against Germany.
Kiel is already in the cup semi-finals.
But things could get even better this season.
On Monday, Holstein will face Hamburger SV in a direct promotion duel, which has slipped to fourth in the table.
Should Kiel win, they would have put six points between themselves and HSV.
After the feat before last in the cup, the win against Bayern, they promptly lost their next home game against KSC.
Four weeks later, after the Cup round of 16 in Darmstadt, Kiel did better and won the following league game in Düsseldorf 2-0.
The dynamism of the past weeks speaks for Holstein anyway.
In the six games since the beginning of the second half of the season, Kiel got 13 points, at HSV there were six.
Lee Jae Sung has so far been waiting with a contract extension in Kiel.
There are rumors that HSV wants to sign him in the summer.
The player himself has stated that he will only leave Holstein when he can improve in terms of sport.
Perhaps that no longer speaks for HSV as a future employer on Monday evening.
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