The answer to the failure to advance to the Olympics was indifference.
South Korea’s U-23 national team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, returned home via Incheon International Airport on the 27th. South Korea wrapped up the 2024 U-23 Qatar Asian Cup with Indonesia in the quarterfinals on the 26th.
The result was unexpected. Korea had won all three of its matches in the previous group stage, making it to the quarterfinals. Indonesia was also a better team than Korea in terms of power. However, Korea tied with Indonesia 2–2, and lost in a shootout. In the end, they failed to win an Olympic ticket, which is given up to the fourth place in the tournament.
And Hwang Sun-hong and the team returned home with a heartbroken look. Because they had the worst performance, there could have been angry soccer fans at the site. In 2014, the Korean national team, which failed to advance to the round of 16 at the World Cup in Brazil, was given a “taste of the night” at the site. In February, former coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who led Korea to failure at the Asian Cup, returned home, and some soccer fans shouted out anger and peeped on the day.
Whenever the national team achieved such a disappointing performance, there were several cases in which the return scene was filled with anger from fans. Therefore, there was a possibility that the U-23 national team, which failed to advance to the Olympics, would also be criticized.
However, it was frighteningly calm at Incheon International Airport on the day. It was hard to find soccer fans, let alone eavesdropping. Most of them came to see off their returning families. Only the flashlight baptism of reporters directed at Hwang Sun-hong resonated at the airport. After Hwang finished the interview, one or two fans asked for his autograph. 안전놀이터
The person who encouraged Hwang Sun-hong was none other than Jeong Hae-sung, chairman of the Korea Football Association`s power enhancement committee. After having casual conversations, they left the airport quickly separately. Their failure to advance to the Olympics eventually led to cold indifference among fans.