Uzbekistan will be the next team to face the ‘Byun Sung-hwan Ho’ on their way to the final.
The Byun Sung-hwan-led South Korea Under-17 National Team defeated hosts Thailand 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup 2023 at Pathum Thani Stadium in Thailand on Friday (June 25).
South Korea opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a header from a free kick by Kang Min-woo. However, after conceding a goal in the 15th minute to equalize, South Korea regained the lead in the 36th minute through Kim Myung-joon, before adding goals from Yoon Do-young in the 24th minute and Kim Hyun-min in the 39th minute to seal the victory 안전놀이터.
With the win, South Korea secured a spot in the semifinals and booked their ticket to the U-17 World Cup. The U-17 World Cup will be held in Indonesia this November. It is the second consecutive time South Korea has qualified for the tournament.
South Korea’s semifinal opponent will be Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the quarterfinals on Saturday night at Thammasat Stadium in Pathum Thani, Thailand.
After finishing second in the group behind Japan (2 wins, 1 draw), Uzbekistan looked to be on the back foot against Saudi Arabia, who had won all three of their group games. But after taking the lead through an own goal in the 34th minute, Abdullayev’s right-footed strike from a corner in the 39th minute sealed the win.
With the win, Uzbekistan qualified for the U-17 World Cup and reached the quarterfinals for the first time in 11 years since the 2012 tournament, where they won the title. Uzbekistan drew 1-1 with Japan and followed that up with back-to-back 1-0 wins over India and Vietnam.
South Korea will face Uzbekistan in the semifinals of the tournament on Sept. 29 at Pathum Thani Stadium. South Korea will be looking to avenge their loss to Uzbekistan in the regional qualifiers.
The loss denied Saudi Arabia, one of the favorites, its first quarterfinal appearance in 31 years since 1992 and its first title in 35 years since 1988.
South Korea is seeking its first title in 21 years. South Korea hasn’t won the tournament since its second title in 2002 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They reached the final in 2008 and 2014, but were knocked out by Uzbekistan and North Korea, respectively.
Should South Korea advance past Uzbekistan, they will face either Japan or Iran. Japan is the defending champion. They defeated Australia 3-1 in the quarterfinals on June 26. Iran was eliminated in the group stage at the last edition. However, they were the runners-up in 2016 and will be looking to win their first title in 15 years since 2008. Notably, Iran defeated South Korea 2-0 in the group stage.
안전놀이터순위 The South Koreans lost to Tajikistan in the semifinals of the last edition of the tournament. Coach Byun Sung-hwan said after the game, “It was a difficult game. The players did a good job on the field as we prepared. I want to say thank you to the players, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to them for giving me a special experience.”
“Since the beginning of this tournament, we have never changed our style of play, our principles and the direction we want to go,” Byun added, “We tried to maintain our football even if there were external changes. The players have continued to play accordingly. We had some difficulties, but we managed to get through them.”
On reaching the quarterfinals, he said: “I’m very happy and pleased. I was actually thinking about it a lot when I was on the bus yesterday after the last training session. I was thinking a lot about what it would be like if my team won and got a ticket to the World Cup, because it’s a situation I’ve never experienced before. I also had a lot of time to myself this morning and imagined what it would feel like if my team won. I’m so happy to be sitting here and doing this interview after producing the result.”