The history of Korean soccer’s consecutive advance to the Olympic finals has ended in Hwang Seon-hong.
The U-23 national soccer team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, lost to Indonesia on a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying round and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on the 26th (Korea time).
South Korea, which began to be dragged down by Indonesia in the first half with a first run, showed a bad performance in which it scored its second run even after tying the game with an own goal in extra time in the first half. In the second half, Lee Young-joon (Kim Cheon Sang-bu) was on the verge of being eliminated due to overlapping exit, but he was relieved by Jung Sang-bin (Minnesota United)’s valuable equalizer nine minutes before the end.
In the end, they headed for a penalty shootout even in extra time with a score of 2-2. It was hard to decide again here. There were 11 attempts through one lap, and they lost 10-11, handing over the semifinal ticket to Indonesia.
As a result, Korea failed to advance to the semifinals, but failed to advance to the Paris Olympics. The three-and-a-half Olympic berths are up for grabs. The first to third place finishers win direct tickets to Paris, and the fourth place finisher will go through an intercontinental playoff with the fourth place finisher in Africa. At least the semifinals are required to advance to Paris.
The glorious record of Korean soccer has come to a halt. As the Asian soccer powerhouse, Korean soccer has been a regular player at the Olympics as well as at the World Cup. It has advanced to the finals for nine consecutive times, starting with the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the last Tokyo Olympics. It was the first time in the world. He tried to increase his participation record to 10 in a row by going to Paris, but failed to secure a berth in 40 years since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
South Korea has been dragged around by Indonesia, which was a step down. Even though they took a defensive approach of placing five players in the back from the first half, they could not overcome Indonesia’s pressure. 안전놀이터 As the build-up was chaotic and they struggled to deploy the attack, they had to suffer from Indonesia’s onslaught, which gained momentum.
Korea lost its first point to Indonesia in the 15th minute of the first half. Still, it was Raphael Strike, a mixed-race striker from Indonesia, who handled the ball so well. However, as time passed, he started to dedicate his shot to Indonesia, and he was rather overwhelmed. He lost points instantly even after making the score 1-1 due to an own goal by the opponent team before the end of the first half.