“We were playing at home, and I’m sorry that we lost in front of our fans.”
The South Korea U22 national team, led by Hwang Sun-hong, suffered a shocking 0-2 defeat against Qatar in the first leg of their 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup qualifier at the Changwon Football Center on Saturday.
It was the worst loss of the tournament. The offense, defense, and game management were all lacking, especially the conceding process, which included shaky defense and goalkeeping mistakes.
The South Korea U22 football team, led by Hwang Sun-hong, lost 0-2 to Qatar in the first leg of their 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup qualifier at the Changwon Football Center on Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Korea Football Association
The line of Lee Tae-seok and the ‘Gwangju Duo’ of Uhm Ji Sung and Heo Yul was fierce, but the completion was lacking, especially when they failed to capitalize on several scoring chances. In the end, the difference in determination was the difference between victory and defeat.
The team is fortunate that the loss to Qatar won’t affect their ranking. The bigger problem is that they still have games against Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. Even against Qatar, where they had an objective advantage, Korea collapsed. They need to regroup.
Game impressions.
I’m sorry that we lost in front of our fans at home. The first goal was the decisive factor that changed the course of the game. We lacked offensive details.
We needed to work on the half-space in the attacking area. There were a lot of back passes in the buildup. The fullbacks were also static and we had to change that, because the left side was fine, but the right side was struggling. I was disappointed with the lack of detail in the attacking area.메이저놀이터
What you would like to emphasize from the game against Kyrgyzstan.
We need to control the timing of our pressing. I’m disappointed with that. I think we need to work on our offense when preparing for the next game. I think we need to break out of the monotony on the flanks as well.
You also coach the U22 and Hangzhou AG teams together. Are there any concentration problems?
It can’t be an excuse. I’m sorry about the loss. As a coach, I’m sorry because we need to show a good performance at home and we didn’t do that. Our players are still young and this game is not the end. We have to move forward. We need to focus on the next game and not get carried away by the atmosphere.
Goalkeeper Baek Jong-beom made a mistake. Will you make a change?
We didn’t talk about it. The lineup is composed of several parts. We’ll stick to the plan. I think it was a decisive mistake, but everyone can make mistakes. I don’t think we should lose courage. You have to use it as an opportunity to improve. It’s all about the coach, and the players need to prepare for the following.
We’re going to face a lot of teams that drop the line like Qatar. How to deal with it.
We are in the process of building a team. We can’t just go there to win one game. We need to work on our overall harmony, our movement. When a new player comes in, it’s difficult to adapt. The important thing is to break the monotony. I think we have to think about these things for the next game and try to overcome them with our players.
