When the South Korean men’s team for the AFC Asian Cup tournament was unveiled on Monday, Lee Jeong-hyeop, a virtually unknown forward, was easily the biggest surprise.

Hours after the announcement, the 23-year-old player for the domestic military club Sangju Sangmu said he was taken aback by the news himself.

“I am going to do my best to fulfill my responsibility,” Lee said.

Head coach Uli Stielike chose the unproven Lee, who has yet to play in an international match, in favor of veteran forward Park Chu-young, a veteran of three FIFA World Cups with 68 international matches to his credit. 

Stielike said he wanted to have a new dimension to his offense and said Lee could be his target man on offense.

Park has gone six games without a goal for his Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab and has played his way off the national team.

Lee is as green as they come. He hadn’t even trained with the senior national team until Stielike called him up for the pre-Asian Cup training camp on Jejudo Island last week.

Lee made his debut in the K League Classic with Busan IPark last year and netted just two goals in 27 matches. This year, he appeared in 25 matches and had just four goals. Lee played the full 90 minutes on only two occasions.

When discussing his training camp squad, Stielike said earlier this month that he and his coaches had watched Lee in five matches.

Even though Lee came off the bench and played only about 25 minutes in those matches, Stielike said he still liked Lee’s energy and pace.

During training camp, Lee pounced on the opportunity to make an even stronger impression. The 28-man squad was split into two for an intrasquad match Sunday and Lee scored a goal. (Yonhap)