The Olympic Football Team has advanced to the knockout stages of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup.
The team defeated Myanmar 3-0 in the third match of Group B of the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup on Wednesday afternoon at the Changwon Football Center in Gyeongnam, South Korea.
The tournament is the first gateway to the Paris Olympics and has been organized into 11 qualifying groups.
The top four teams from each of the 11 groups, plus hosts Qatar, will compete for a place at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in April/May next year.
The team started Kim Shin-jin (Seoul) in the center of the field, with Uhm Ji-sung (Gwangju) and Jung Sang-bin (Minnesota) on the wings.
Lee Hyun-joo (Wiesbaden), Kwon Hyuk-kyu (Celtic), and Baek Sang-hoon (Seoul) formed the second line. The backline consisted of Lee Tae-seok (Seoul), Son Seong-kwan (Bucheon), Cho Wi-je (Busan), and Park Chang-woo (Jeonbuk). Shin Song-hoon started in goal.
Against Myanmar, the team pressed hard from the start and took control of the game.
The first goal came just five minutes into the game. In the fifth minute, Baek Sang-hoon rose high to head in a cross from the left flank.
The team then pounded on the Myanmar goal, but the score remained 1-0 at halftime.
In the 18th minute, Jung Sang-bin broke down the right flank and sent a cross with two defenders in front of him that Kim Shin-jin headed over the crossbar.
In the 34th minute, Lee Tae-seok’s cross from the left was not quite at the feet of Jung Sang-bin, and Baek Sang-hoon collected the second ball from the penalty spot in front of the goal with a straight right-footed shot. However, the goalkeeper made a super save.
In the 40th minute, Uhm Ji Sung fooled the defense with a solo run in the left penalty area before firing a low left-footed shot just wide of the far post.
Just before the end of the first half, Jung Sang-bin’s strong right-footed shot from the right penalty area was saved by the goalkeeper.
In the second half, the team had a few close calls. In the 12th minute of the second half, they conceded a shot on target after a Myanmar free kick, and in the 18th minute of the second half, they conceded a shot on target on a Myanmar counterattack.
With no further goals in sight, Hwang Sun-hong moved Jung Sang-bin up front and dropped Kim Shin-jin, Uhm Ji-sung, and Lee Hyun-joo in favor of Hong Yun-sang (Pohang), Oh Jae-hyuk (Jeonbuk), and Jeon Byung-kwan (Daejeon).
The second goal came in the 40th minute. Jeon Byung-kwan received a cutback pass from Jung Sang-bin on the left side of the penalty area and slid it into the net with his left foot. Four minutes after stepping on the ground, Jeon scored his second goal.
Then came the wedge goal in second-half stoppage time. Oh Jae-hyuk rattled the net with his left foot from the penalty area to score the third goal and seal the 3-0 victory.
The national team defeated Myanmar to advance to the Asian Cup, but the goal difference left something 바카라 to be desired. The team won 3-0 against Myanmar, but the score was far from satisfactory.
Head coach Hwang Sun-hong pointed out that the team needs to urgently improve its decision-making.
“The most difficult thing is to improve our goal decision-making. I think it was a tournament where we were not decisive in terms of chances and attacking frequency,” he said. “We have stronger opponents waiting for us in the main round, so we will improve our goal decisiveness.”