It was a competition where you can once again check "Frog in the Well" amid the hot popularity of surpassing 10 million spectators for the first time ever.안전놀이터

The South Korean national team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il, won 5-2 against Australia in the fifth Group B match of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 at Tien Mu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan on the 18th, but failed to advance to the third-place Super Round with 3 wins, 2 losses.

Compared to the time when he won the gold medal based on his "complete victory" at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and acquired the title at the 2015 WBSC Premier 12, Korean baseball has completely lost its international competitiveness. Even considering the fact that short-term games have many variables, no more excuses are needed for the ongoing slump in competitions where everyone is playing in a similar environment.

Korean baseball began to lose its international competitiveness during the 2017 World Baseball Classic at Gocheok Sky Dome. At the time, Korea failed to pass the first round as it knelt down to Israel and the Netherlands in succession. As a result, the words "shock" and "devastation" poured into the media. However, I didn't know at the time. I didn't know that bad trends will continue until 2024.

Starting with the 2017 WBC, South Korea suffered the humiliation of a "no medal" at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and once again, it fell completely if it suffered from elimination from the group stage at the 2023 WBC. In particular, there was a lot of criticism and criticism as various accidents and gossip followed at each competition. And KBO and the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) decided to conduct a full-time coach of the national team after much consideration.

It started off well for now. Ryu had difficulties at the Hangzhou Asian Games after Ryu Joong-il took the helm, but he won the "gold medal," which was his desired result, and also achieved a valuable second place by fighting the Japanese national team in the finals at the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (ABPC). However, the result was close to the worst in this Premier 12.

With the announcement of a "generational change" since the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, the national team has also been listed as relatively young players, unlike the Premier 12 in the first and second innings. However, various unfavorable factors poured in. Koo Ja-wook, who was scheduled to head coach Ryu Joong-il, Won Tae-in, Kim Young-woong, Kim Ji-chan (Samsung), Son Joo-young (LG), and Lee Kang-joon (Kium) were eliminated one after another due to injuries. As the national team is formed mainly of young players, the national team's power, which is bound to weaken, has plummeted.

The result was devastating. Korea started its Group B opener by kneeling down against Taiwan. Then, it seemed to succeed in reversing the mood by catching Cuba with Livan Moinello, the top ERA in the Pacific League in Japan, but lost again in the third round against Korea and Japan, making the team highly unlikely to advance to the Super Round (semi-finals). It sought to win until the middle of the game, but failed to block Japan's firepower.

Since then, Ryu Joong-il has started betting everything on the results of other countries, including Japan and Taiwan. In other words, the "number of cases" has emerged again. In one win and two losses, South Korea succeeded in reviving the game by turning the game from 0-6 against the Dominican Republic, which was the fourth game, but South Korea's advance to the semifinals was thwarted as Japan won its fourth game on the 17th and Taiwan won its third, and it had to settle for finishing third in the group by beating Australia on the 18th.

Although the power has dropped significantly due to injuries, the current situation in Korean baseball is nothing but a frog in a well. Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants also recognized the "frog in a well" after being eliminated from the group stage in the WBC last year, and this Premier 12 was a competition to confirm this once again. Still, there is no obstacle to his career. This is because the KBO league's FA market is as hot as lava, so if he is qualified, he can sign billions of won in contracts at any time.

Japanese media also pointed out such a situation in Korean baseball. "Korea won the Premier 12 championship and was the runner-up in the second championship," Japan's Daily Sports said after the match between Korea and Australia on Wednesday. "However, Korea was eliminated in the group league in the third championship," the Japanese daily said. "It has continued its slump in international competitions, with the team failing to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and failing to win a group league for three consecutive WBC events."