South Korea’s head coach, Hwang Sun-hong, who will lead his country to its 10th consecutive Olympic Games, has predicted a tough final Group B match against Japan at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup 2024.
Hwang’s men defeated China 2-0 in their second Group B match of the tournament at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 19 (KST), led by a multi-goal performance from Lee Young-joon.
It was the second straight win for Japan, following a 1-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sept. 17. At the same time, Japan’s victory over the UAE puts South Korea 온라인카지노 and Japan side-by-side as early quarterfinalists.
As they advanced to the quarterfinals early, they could rotate in the third round.
However, facing their arch-rivals, Japan, in a first-place match, they can’t make too many changes.
“It’s hard to say (how we’ll play against Japan) right now,” Hwang told AFC after the game. We need to check many things comprehensively. We will check and find a good way.”
“They have been organized for a long time, and in terms of organization, they are one of the best teams in this tournament,” he said of Japan, who will face them in the third round. “They have a lot of variety, such as forward pressing and different build-up schemes. They tend to make things difficult for their opponents. We’ll have to be wary of their speed as well,” he added, predicting a tough matchup.
Hwang also pointed to a change in the central defense as a problem.
In the fourth minute of the second half against China, central defender Son Seong-kwan (Bucheon FC 1995) left the field with a hamstring injury. Another defender, Byun Jun-soo (Gwangju FC), was ruled out of the Japan match due to accumulating cautions.
Hwang said, “It’s a difficult situation. We have to find a trick. Even as I’m doing this interview, I’m still thinking about it,” said Hwang.
“We only have two days (before the game against Japan), so we have to decide what kind of format we will use overall and how we will organize it with the coaching staff,” he added.
The match between South Korea and Japan will take place at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 22 at 10 p.m.