The futures of Korean football have only one step left until the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Now, if only China, their opponent in the quarterfinals, wins, they will qualify for the third consecutive U-20 World Cup.
The U-20 soccer team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong (44), will face off against China in the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup quarterfinals at JAR Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan at 7 pm (Korean time) on the 12th.
Earlier, on the 8th, Korea passed Group C in the group stage with 1st place (2 wins, 1 draw, 7 points) and advanced to the quarterfinals. ), the two teams faced each other in the quarterfinals.
This tournament, which also serves as a World Cup qualifier, will compete in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will be held in Indonesia from May. If eliminated in the quarterfinals, the opportunity to win the tournament as well as the opportunity to participate in the U-20 World Cup is lost.
Through this tournament, Kim Eun-joong set the goal of winning the U-20 World Cup and returning to the top for the first time in 11 years. 안전놀이터 If they beat China, they can achieve the first goal of the tournament, which is to qualify for the World Cup by advancing to the semifinals. Participating in the U-20 World Cup is the third consecutive advance following the 2017 and 2019 competitions (runner-up).
Korea is showing overwhelming strength with 13 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses in the previous match between China and the U-20 national team. The most recent confrontation was in the qualifiers for the AFC U-19 Championship held in Yangon, Myanmar in 2019, and they won 4-1 at that time as well. The last time the U-20 team lost to China was a 1-3 loss in 2004. Since then, they are continuing their strong run with 7 wins and 1 draw.
In addition to Korea-China, the quarterfinals of this tournament consisted of Uzbekistan-Australia, Iran-Iraq, and Japan-Jordan. If Kim Eun-jung-ho beats China and advances to the semifinals, he will compete with the winner of the Uzbekistan-Australia match to advance to the final.
Korea is the most successful team in the tournament, having reached the top 12 times, but 2012 was the last one. Since then, Qatar (2014), Japan (2016), and Saudi Arabia (2018) have risen to the top of Asia in turn. The finals of this tournament will be held on the 18th at 11pm.