South Korea’s men’s soccer team, seeking a third consecutive Asian Games gold medal, won a two-goal victory in an exhibition match against China.
The Asian Games Men’s National Team (U24), coached by Hwang Sun-hong, defeated China 3-1 on Friday at Jinhua Stadium in Zhejiang Province, China, thanks to a multi-goal performance from Uhm Won-sang (Ulsan Hyundai).
South Korea will play one more exhibition match on Sept. 19 at the same venue. Jinhua Stadium is the venue for the men’s soccer competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Normally, men’s soccer at the Asian Games is played by players aged 23 and under, but the age limit has been raised to 24 as the tournament is being held a year earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea will be attempting to win its third consecutive gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, following Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
Hwang deployed Chun Sung-hoon 안전놀이터 (Incheon United) up front and Song Min-kyu (Jeonbuk Hyundai), Ko Young-joon (Pohang Steelers) and Yang Hyun-joon (Gangwon FC) in the second line, but it was fruitless.
After a 0-0 first half, South Korea took the lead in the second half when substitute Uhm Won-sang scored two unassisted goals. In the sixth minute of the second half, Kim Bong-soo (Jeju United) sent a long forward pass to Uhm Won-sang, who was one-on-one with the Chinese goalkeeper and slotted the ball over his head with his right foot. Three minutes later, Uhm Won-sang received a through ball from Jung Ho-yeon (Gwangju FC) and was again one-on-one with the keeper, but he didn’t miss his chance.
Korea booked the win in the 16th minute of the second half with a right-footed mid-range shot from Jung Woo-young (Freiburg). China pulled one back in the 18th minute with a header from Xu Haoyang, and that was that.