The South Korean soccer team, confident of winning a third consecutive Asian Games title, conceded a shocking early goal.
South Korea is playing Japan in the men’s football final of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. It’s 0-1 with five minutes left in the first half.
Japan scored in the opening minutes of the match. Sato Gain attacked the Korean right flank. In a flank battle, the Korean defense failed to stop him, and Sato sent a cross into the box. Gotaro Uchino met it and rattled the net in one fell swoop. He quickly capitalized on the space the Korean defense had given him and scored. It came just one minute and 20 seconds into the game.
Meanwhile, Hwang Sun-Hong, who has scored 25 points in six games during the tournament, started Hwang Jae-Won, Park Jin-Seop, Lee Han-Bum, Park Kyu-Hyun, Jung Ho-Yeon, Baek Seung-Ho, Jung Woo-Young, Young-Jun Lee, Kang-In, and Cho Young-Wook. The goalkeeper’s gloves are worn by Lee Kwang-yeon, and Jung Woo-young, Young-joon, and Kang-in are all on the field, as they are known as the “best second line ever. Song Min-gyu, Hong Hyun-seok, Seol Young-woo, and Uhm Won-sang wait on the bench.
All eyes will be on Lee Kang-in, who started his first Korea-Japan match two years ago in an unfamiliar “zero-top” formation that resulted in a 0-3 defeat. The same happened in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 (U-23) Asian Cup in June last year, with Hwang Sun-hong at the helm of the U-23s and the same opponent, Japan. It was literally a revenge match.
Lee Kang-in was a late addition to this AG after suffering a thigh injury last month. He’s been on the field since the third game of the group stage, but hasn’t played full-time. Of course, that didn’t matter to Hwang Sun-hong, who had an all-time great second line. Jung Woo-young, Song Min-kyu, Ahn Jae-joon, and Go Young-joon all performed admirably. That’s over four goals per game.
All that remains is Japan. All eyes will be on Lee Kang-in, who has been adjusting his playing time, and has been notable for his dazzling passing and movement in his short time on the field.
Elsewhere, Hwang Sun-hong’s “No. 7” Jung Woo-young will also be looking to score for Korea. With seven goals already, he is booked to become the fourth AG scorer of all time after Seo Jung-won in 1990 (4), Hwang Sun-hong in 1994 (11) and Hwang Eui-jo in 2018 (9). He started with a hat-trick against Kuwait in the first round of the group stage, followed by multi-goal performances against Kyrgyzstan in the round of 16 and Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals. Like Son Heung-min in the A team, fans are drawn to his feet as he shows a fierce sense of goal from the left side of the field.레고토토
Their opponents, meanwhile, are a team that has been building toward the Paris 2024 Olympics for a long time. With no wildcards, their roster is dominated by players under the age of 22. Ten of the 22 players are from universities, and few have established themselves in the league. However, they are a formidable opponent in the AG with 17 points and three goals in five games.
Finally, it will be interesting to see if Hwang Sun-hong can break Korea’s “Japan nightmare”. Starting with the A team’s 0-3 loss in Yokohama two years ago, the U-16, U-23, and U-17 teams have lost by three goals in a row. The A team suffered two 0-3 losses. Hwang Sun-hong put out his best starting lineup in hopes of not only winning the gold medal, but also ending the Korea-Japan nightmare.