U-20 coach Kim Eun-joong “Unfortunate points in the Asian Cup, improved before the World Cup”
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under 20 (U-20) Asian Cup coach Kim Eun-joong, who unfortunately turned around in the semifinals, pledged to do well in the World Cup, which is approaching two months from now.
The U-20 national team, led by coach Kim, lost 1-3 in the penalty shootout after drawing without scoring in the semi-finals of the tournament against host country Uzbekistan on the 15th.
Coach Kim said in an interview with local reporters, including AFC, after the game, “I will look at what I lack and what needs to be improved, and I will make up for it before the U-20 World Cup opens.”
Korea, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Japan, which have successfully advanced to the semifinals of this tournament, will participate in the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Indonesia in May this year.
In the tournament right before the 2019 U-20 World Cup, Korea won the runner-up, the best performance in a FIFA-sponsored competition in the history of men’s football.
Coach Kim said, “I hope all teams participating in the World Cup will achieve good results.”
“It’s good news for Asian football,” he added.
Coach Kim, who aimed to win the Asian Cup this time, also expressed regret that he stopped challenging in the semifinals.
Coach Kim said, “We did our best. I think we prepared very well for this tournament,” but “unfortunately, today was not our day.”
The national team struggled against Uzbekistan’s rough fight and pressure, being pushed 3-9 in effective shooting.
Coach Kim looked back and said, “It’s the first time our players have played in front of so many spectators.”
According to AFC, about 34,000 spectators entered Tashkent’s Mili Stadium to support Uzbekistan, the host nation, that day. 메이저놀이터
Coach Kim said, “We lost in the penalty shootout, but this tournament is under the age of 20, and our players are also young players.” “This hostile atmosphere seems to have affected the players. It would have been an opportunity.”
Above all, coach Kim regretted that the players had a hard time physically because they played two games in a row.
On the 12th, Kim Eun-joong played an overtime match against China in the quarterfinals (3-1 win).
He said, “In the last game, the players played until overtime, so today I made a little change to the roster,” he said.
He added, “The players who played the previous game were a little hard throughout today’s game. That directly affected the result.”