Hwang Seon-hong, who is aiming for an Olympic qualification, has faced a true test. The fateful match between Korea and Japan that will determine the future schedule awaits.
The Republic of Korea under-23 soccer team, led by coach Hwang Sun-hong, will play the third match of Group B of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup against Japan at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar at 4 p.m. (local time) on the 22nd.
Even before the opening of the tournament, Korea faced the challenge of failing to select overseas players one after another. Fortunately, they overcame the crisis and advanced to the quarterfinals after two group stage games. The process wasn’t easy. In the first match against UAE, they won with Lee Young-jun’s spectacular goal in extra time in the second half.
The match against China that followed was not much different. Even until midway through the first half, it seemed like they were being pushed back by China’s counterattack. However, goalkeeper Kim Jeong-hoon’s series of saves helped the team overcome the crisis, and Lee Young-jun scored at every key moment to secure a 2-0 victory.
Now Korea has only the first place match left. The opponent is Japan. Japan also confirmed its advance to the quarterfinals early on by defeating China and UAE. Now, Korea and Japan, each with 6 points, will determine the final ranking. The winning team takes first place. If a winner cannot be decided within regular time, the ranking will be decided through a penalty shootout.
It is evaluated that taking first place in the group will make it easier in future matches. If Korea takes first place, it will face Group A’s second-place Indonesia, and if it takes second place, it will face Group A’s first-place Qatar. Indonesia is a team that defied expectations and showed its potential by defeating Australia (1-0 win) and Jordan (4-1 win).
However, it may be better than the ‘host country’ Qatar. Qatar has many advantages as it is playing this tournament at home, following the 2023 Asian Cup held in January. Although there was overwhelming support from the home fans, there was controversy over the biased decision in favor of Qatar. Therefore, dealing with Indonesia in first place is the way to block external factors.
First of all, there is some disappointing news within the Korean team. Central defense duo Byun Jun-soo and Myung-gwan Seo, who started as starters in both of the last two group matches, will both be absent. Byun Jun-su received a yellow card each in the first and second games and cannot play in this game due to accumulated warnings.
In the case of the signing officer, the situation is more serious. He was substituted early in the second half of the game against China and suffered a torn cruciate ligament, forcing him to withdraw from the tournament. A KFA official commented on this, “Player Seo Myung-kwan was diagnosed with a hamstring rupture for about 8 weeks. He has to withdraw from the tournament. However, he will not return to Korea first and will be with the players until the end.”
Now, the only center back resource available to Hwang Seon-hong is Lee Jae-won. We need a player who can work well with Jaewon Lee. Previously, in the match against China, Seo Myung-kwan was absent and Cho Hyun-taek took over this position. There is also a possibility that central midfielders such as Lee Kang-hee will be deployed to center back.
Korea changed three positions in the starting list for the first and second games. The defense remained the same, and there were some changes to the offense. Lee Young-jun, Kang Seong-jin, and Kim Min-woo replaced Ahn Jae-jun, Hong Si-hoo, and Lee Kang-hee as starters in the first game.
Conversely, Japan had only four players who started both games. Of these, excluding the goalkeeper, 7 out of 10 field player positions were changed. The only players who started for two consecutive games were defender Hiroki Sekine and midfielders Rihito Yamamoto and Fuki Yamada.
Japan, which implemented a bold rotation, canceled training the day after the match against UAE and granted rest time. While Korea was unable to maintain full strength due to injury, Japan clearly had the upper hand in terms of physical strength.
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