The memory of Hiroshima in 1994 is not a good one.
Fresh off their Asian Games crown, the South Korean men’s soccer team went on a winning streak, demolishing Nepal 11-0 in their first group game and coming from behind to beat Korea in the quarterfinals, before falling 0-1 to Uzbekistan.
Despite being outshot 27-4, they were unable to find the back of the net. 카지노사이트
Uzbekistan advanced to the final by beating South Korea and won their first title.
It’s called the Hiroshima Nightmare.
We met Uzbekistan again in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games.
The Korea Under-24 Men’s National Team will face Uzbekistan on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, China, for a spot in the final of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
South Korea has been unstoppable in the tournament, including a 9-0 shutout of Kuwait in their first match.
There are many parallels to 29 years ago. No one is more aware of this than coach Hwang Sun-hong.
Hwang was the top scorer (11 goals) in the 1994 tournament, including a record-breaking eight-goal performance against Nepal, but missed out on the title, and now he’s back in charge to try to win the Asian title again.
After defeating China (2-0) in front of 50,000 fans in the quarterfinals on Jan. 1, Huang said, “The best enemy is within us,” when asked how to prepare for the Uzbek game.
“Against China, we struck a good balance between calm and passion.
We must not let our guard down in the quarterfinals.”
In his words, “our most dangerous enemy is ourselves,” and it’s hard to look past the matchups to see who South Korea’s opponents are.
Hwang Sun-hong has scored 23 goals (and conceded one) in five matches, and 11 players have found the back of the net in every position – attack, midfield, and defense.
The team has already surpassed Kim Hak-Bum-ho’s 19 goals at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang tournament, and the firepower has been so overwhelming that South Korea has scored 21.7% of the 106 total goals in the tournament through the quarterfinals.
Even more encouraging than the scoring numbers is the starting lineup.
Hwang used different combinations of his best 11 in all five games, and each time he produced homogeneous performances.
Against China, he dropped top scorer Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart), ace Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Uhm Won-sang (Ulsan) to the bench and still scored two goals to take an early lead. “It doesn’t matter who starts,” said Hwang.
All of our players do their job no matter who plays,” Hwang said
While the tactical doubts that have plagued the team since Hwang took the helm are fading, the numbers and accolades will not hold up if the team fails to win its remaining two games.
With “all the strikers in good form,” as Hwang puts it, it remains to be seen who will emerge as the game-winner.
It is noticeable that Lee Kang-in, who joined the team late in the tournament and had little time to get up to speed, has yet to score an offensive point.
There is also a goal-scoring race for Jung Woo-young.
South Korea has had three top scorers at the Asian Games: Seo Jung-won in 1990 (4 goals – tied with Iran’s Farsad Pius), Hwang Sun-hong in 1994 (11 goals) and Hwang Eui-jo in 2018 (9 goals).
Saudi Arabia’s Maran Mohammed, who, like Jung, is tied for the top spot with five goals, has already been eliminated from the tournament, and there is no competition from other teams, except for Japan’s Kotaro Uchino, who is chasing with three goals.