South Korea beats UAE in U-23 Asian Cup
South Korea defeated the United Arab Emirates 1-0 to begin its Olympic men’s soccer qualifying campaign in Qatar on Tuesday, taking a key first step toward a berth in the quadrennial tournament in Paris.
Substitute Lee Youngjun headed home the winner during secondhalf added time for the narrow South Korean win in the team’s first Group B match at the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha.
South Korea had two goals wiped out by offside calls before Lee scored the one that counted.
This AFC tournament also serves as the Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics this summer. The top three teams from the 16team competition will grab tickets to France, while the fourth-place team will play Guinea in an intercontinental playoff later.
South Korea has played at every Olympic men’s soccer tournament since 1988. The only medal to date is bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, South Korea will next play China on Friday, back at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.
The South Korean team will close out the group stage against Japan on Monday at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha.
Earlier Tuesday, 10-man Japan defeated China 1-0, despite losing defender Ryuya Nishio to a straight red card in the 17th minute.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals.
Hwang had originally called up five players based in foreign leagues, but will be missing three of them — Yang Hyun-jun of Celtic FC, Kim Ji-soo of Brentford FC and Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City — due to their club commitments. The AFC event is not on the FIFA international match calendar and thus clubs are not obliged to release their Asian players.
Hwang, who had to name players from the domestic K League as replacements, said at his prematch presser Monday that he hoped to see K Leaguers “show their strength and capability throughout the tournament.”
And it was two K League players, defender Lee Tae-seok and forward Lee Young-jun, who connected for the decisive goal against the UAE.
South Korea knocked on the UAE doors early and often, and spent the majority of the first half in their opponents’ zone.
After a UAE turnover, Lee Kanghee fired a midrange shot that forced Khaled Tawhid to make a tough diving stop in the 14th minute.
South Korea then had a goal disallowed by an offside call in the 18th minute. Forward An Jaejun thought he’d scored a backheel goal off a cross from Kang Sangyoon, who corralled the rebound after Hwang Jae-won’s left-footed shot struck the left post. But Kang was ruled offside following a video review, leading to the goal being overturned.
The UAE didn’t mount much of an attack in the opening 45 minutes, though forward Ulsan Adil nearly stripped goalkeeper Kim Jeong-hoon of the ball in the goalmouth after Kim had taken a back pass. (Yonhap)