Lee Young-joon (Gimcheon), who scored the game-winning goal with a header in the first leg against the UAE, opened the scoring with his right foot. South Korea took a 1-0 halftime lead against China to advance in the tournament.
South Korea’s U-23 national team took a 1-0 halftime lead against China in their Group B match at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup 2024 at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, thanks to Lee Young-joon’s 35th-minute strike.
South Korea, who earned three points with a win over the UAE earlier in the day, will advance to the knockout stages with a win over China. China, on the other hand, is coming off a 0-1 loss to Japan that was marred by a sending-off, so a win against South Korea is essential.
The tournament will be played in four groups of 16 nations, with the first through third place qualifying directly to the Olympic Games, while the fourth-place team will play the fourth-place team from the African qualifiers. For South Korea, the goal is to finish in the top three after entering the tournament.
In this situation, South Korea opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Lee Young-joon is up front, followed by Um Ji-sung (Gwangju FC), Kang Sang-yoon (Jeonbuk), and Kang Sung-jin (FC Seoul) in the second line from left to right. Kim Min-woo (Düsseldorf) and Baek Sang-hoon (Seoul) were in charge of the midfield three. The back four started with Cho Hyun-taek (Gimcheon), Byun Jun-su (Gwangju), Seo Myung-kwan (Bucheon), and Hwang Jae-won (Daegu FC), while Kim Jung-hoon (Jeonbuk) wore the goalkeeping gloves.
Compared to the first leg against the UAE, South Korea changed their front line from Ahn Jae-joon (Bucheon FC) to Lee Young-joon (Gimcheon Commerce). Ahn Jae-joon, who is known for his speed and breakthrough ability, started the first match, while Lee Young-joon, a 6-foot-4 striker who is known for his strength in stoppage time, scored the winning goal with a header. In addition, Hong Shihu and Lee Kang-hee, who started the first leg, started the game from the bench.
China came out with a 3-4-2-1 formation. Behram Abdouweli started up front, followed by Xue Weneng and Liu Zhujun. They then set up a four-man midfield of Luan Qilong, Jia Feifan, Tao Changlong, and Duan Dou in the middle. The three backs were Yang Zhihao-Liang Xiaowen-Jin Shunkai, and the goalkeeper’s gloves were worn by Huang Zhihao.
The first half was cautiously exploratory, with both teams earning two free kicks, before China’s Abdouweli in the 12th minute and Uhm Ji-sung in the 13th minute both attempted shots that went wide of the goal.
Then, starting around the 15th minute of the first half, China pushed Korea hard for about 15 minutes. Korea continued to miss passes, and China responded with an effective attack that combined strong pressure with quick counterattacks, resulting in several close calls.
In the 15th minute, Abdouweli’s powerful shot from a pass from Xie Weneng was saved by Kim Jung-hoon after Signe 토토사이트 Guan lost the ball, and Tao Chang-ruong’s threatening shot in the 18th minute was fortunately saved by Kim.
There was another close call in the 22nd minute. After a header from China’s left flanker Luan Qilong, Xue Weneng picked up the ball and played a short ball into the box with one touch. Abdouweli connected with the pass, turned and fired a shot that was off target. Even though the shot went wide, it was almost as if they had conceded a one-on-one chance in front of goal.
Just a few passes later, in the 24th minute, Che Won-Neng, who was on the left, cut inside the box from the right and fired a powerful shot at the outside of the post that was fortunately saved by Kim Jung-Hoon.
After being pushed back and forth by the Chinese, South Korea scored after just one attack.
In the 35th minute, three attackers exchanged efficient passes on the right side of the field.
From the right side, Kang Sung-jin passed to Kang Sang-yoon in the center. Kang then played a one-touch pass back to Lee Young-joon on the right who rushed into space.
With Kang Sang-yoon surrounded by defenders, Young-joon momentarily broke the defense line and penetrated into the right box to collect the ball. From there, he rattled the Chinese net with a neat right-footed shot, albeit from a slightly off-angle situation.
For the second game in a row, Lee rescued South Korea with a goal, following his goal against the UAE. The goal gave South Korea a 1-0 lead after being on the back foot the entire game.
In the 39th minute, Korea had another fantastic attacking move. Korea was on the counterattack and the ball was played to Uhm Ji Sung on the left side. Uhm dribbled confidently and in small bursts, drove into the center of the field, reached the front of the arc, and unleashed an exquisite right-footed curling shot. The shot curved on a sharp trajectory and went narrowly wide of the right post.
After the goal, South Korea took control and continued to pound their opponents in the first half, taking a 1-0 lead into halftime.