The Asian Games U24 soccer team, led by Hwang Sun-hong, will begin their quest for a third consecutive title. To get there, they’ll need to start off with a bang in their first group game.
South Korea will face Kuwait at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Jinhua Stadium in Zhejiang, China, in their first Group E match of the tournament.
Having won gold at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2018 Jakarta and Palembang Asian Games, South Korea will be looking for a third consecutive gold medal.
For South Korea to come out on top once again, it will be important to get off to a good start.
Men’s soccer at the Asian Games is organized by age group, just like the Olympic Games. This time around, the tournament is for 24-year-olds and under, rather than 23-year-olds, as it was postponed a year last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
In big tournaments like the World Cup and Asian Cup, a lot of a team’s momentum depends on the outcome of their first game. This is why most teams emphasize the importance of the first game of the tournament and struggle with it. Age-group competitions are more impactful because of the younger players. 24 is a good age, and there are three wild cards, but it’s still hard to recover from a sinking start.
In terms of fitness and operations, you have to play the first round. Rotation is a must in the group stage because there is no time to rest in this tournament. In fact, after the first leg, the second leg against Thailand will be played on the 21st, giving the players only one day of rest.
With seven games to go to win the tournament, South Korea will need to give a variety of players a chance to play in the second round of the group stage to keep their main players fresh. They need to take the three points from the first game in order to feel comfortable making changes in the second game.
It’s a must-win first match, but Hwang Sun-hong doesn’t have a full squad.
First of all, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), a key member of the Asian Games squad, is not yet available due to his club’s schedule.
Paris Saint-Germain will play the first leg of the UEFA Champions League group stage against Dortmund (Germany) on Tuesday and will allow Lee to leave the team. As a result, Lee will not join Hwang until the afternoon of the 21st.
Hwang’s plan is to wait until after the round of 16 to see if Lee is fit enough to play, which will require a smooth group stage. That means not having to use Lee in the third game due to poor results in the first and second games.
He’s also not sure if he’ll use wild card pick Seol Young-woo (Ulsan). Seol only joined Hwang on the 15th after playing full-time in the two matches against Wales (8th) and Saudi Arabia (13th) during the September A matches in England. He is likely to be rested for the first match, considering his fitness and chemistry with the players 메이저사이트.
Song Min-kyu (Jeonbuk) also has a minor muscle injury and will not play in the first leg, just in case.
Despite the absence of some players, the team will be relying heavily on the offense of Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart) and Hong Hyun-seok (Gent), who have been playing well in Europe this season, as well as Go Young-joon (Pohang) and Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon), who have been impressive in the K League. Winning the first game by a large margin will make the second game much easier.