Lee Woon-jae (; born 26 April 1973) is a South Korean football coach and former player. Considered one of the greatest Asian goalkeeper of all time, he played for the South Korea national team at the 1994, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, and kept three clean sheets while reaching the semi-finals at the 2002 tournament. He is currently working as a goalkeeping coach at the Vietnam national team.
Lee was a part of the South Korea national team for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He came on as a second-half substitute after main goalkeeper Choi In-young conceded three goals in the first half of the last group stage match against Germany. He did not concede a goal during the second half, leaving a good impression.
After the 1994 World Cup, however, Lee suffered from tuberculosis and hepatitis, being in danger of ending his playing career early. He was excluded from the national teams for the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1998 FIFA World Cup while overcoming diseases.
Lee played as first-choice goalkeeper for South Korea at the 2002 FIFA World Cup under manager Guus Hiddink. While his country finished fourth at the tournament, he appeared in all seven matches, and kept clean sheets against Poland, Portugal and Spain. He blocked Spain's fourth penalty taken by JoaquÃÂn in a 5âÂÂ3 penalty shoot-out win of a quarter-final match against Spain, helping his team become the first-ever Asian team to advance to the semi-finals at the World Cup.
Lee captained South Korea at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup in place of injured Kim Nam-il. During the tournament, he kept four clean sheets including three in the knockout stage, and saved a total of three penalties in shoot-outs (two against Iran and one against Japan). After defeating Japan 6âÂÂ5 on penalties in the third place match, he was selected for the tournament's All-Star Team. However, he was suspended from the national team for a year, because he sneaked out from his hotel room and went on a drinking binge in an Indonesian bar along with teammates Kim Sang-sik, Woo Sung-yong and Lee Dong-gook before a group stage match against Bahrain, which ended in a 2âÂÂ1 defeat.
Lee was called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but his teammate Jung Sung-ryong played all matches as a main goalkeeper for South Korea instead of him during the competition. On 11 August 2010, he played his 133rd and last international match in a 2âÂÂ1 friendly win over Nigeria.
Nicknamed the "Spider Hands" in South Korea, Lee did not have good height and rapid pace, but showed great leadership, judgments and harmonies with defenders. He was noted for his predictive ability, which made him strong on penalty shoot-outs. In shoot-outs of his K League career, he won 92% of matches (11 out of 12) and saved 45% of shots (26 out of 58).
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Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Sangmu FC
South Korea U23
South Korea B
South Korea
Individual