and Hwang Seon-hong crossed the first hurdle heading to next year’s Paris Olympics.
The Olympic soccer team, led by coach Hwang Seon-hong, defeated Myanmar 3-0 in the second match of Group B of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers held at the Changwon Soccer Center on the 12th. Korea ranked first in its group and advanced to the Asian Cup finals to be held in Qatar next April.
In this tournament, which also serves as the first qualifying round for the Paris Olympics, 43 Asian countries are divided into 11 groups and play in the group stage, with the top four teams from the first and second place in each group advancing to the finals.바카라
Korea earned 3 points with a 1-0 win against Kyrgyzstan in the previous group stage match, and was able to advance to the finals just by drawing against Myanmar that day. Although they lost 0-2 to Qatar in the first match of the group stage, Qatar is the host country that automatically advances to the finals, so it does not affect the group stage performance as it is a friendly match. However, for Korea, which is attempting to advance to the Olympic finals for the 10th time in a row, one goal in the previous two games was a disappointing result.
Coach Hwang Seon-hong, who was aiming for multiple goals, activated the 4-3-3 formation. Uhm Uhm-seong (Gwangju) was selected as the left wing attacker, and midfielder Lee Hyun-joo (Bayern Munich), who had been a substitute in previous games, was selected as the starter. Korea took the lead 5 minutes into the first half thanks to a goal by Baek Sang-hoon (Seoul). Lee Tae-seok (Seoul) headed a quick cross from the left flank and hit the net.
However, as in the game against Kyrgyzstan, the frustrating trend of not scoring additional goals quickly after scoring early was repeated. They were unable to find a proper way to attack due to Myanmar’s thick defense, which rarely raised its line even after conceding a goal.
The replacement card for the second half was spot on. Coach Hwang substituted Hong Yun-sang (Pohang) and Oh Jae-hyuk (Jeonbuk) in place of striker Kim Shin-jin (Seoul) and Uhm Um-seong, who suffered muscle cramps, in the 33rd minute of the second half. At the end of the second half, Lee Hyun-joo was brought in, Jeon Byeong-gwan (Daejeon) was brought in, and Jeong Sang-bin was brought up to the front line.
An additional goal was scored in the 40th minute of the second half. Jeon Byeong-gwan calmly pushed in a cutback pass that Jeong Sang-bin gave up near the goal line on the left side and succeeded in scoring. In the extra time of the second half, Hong Yun-sang’s quick cross from the left side was converted into a goal by Oh Jae-hyuk to achieve a final victory.
In the U-23 Asian Cup held in April next year, the top three teams will advance directly to the Olympic finals, and the fourth-place team will have to play a playoff against the fourth-place African qualifier.