Despite scoring five goals, Hwang Sun-hong, head coach of the Korean men’s soccer team at the Asian Games, was scathing about conceding one goal after taking the lead.
South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals with a convincing 5-1 win over Kyrgyzstan in the men’s football round of 16 at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Sunday at the Jinhua Sports Center Stadium in Zhejiang, China.
South Korea took a 2-0 lead in the first half through Baek Seung-ho’s (Jeonbuk) penalty kick and Chung Woo-young’s (Stuttgart) header, but conceded a late goal in the 28th minute due to a mistake by Baek Seung-ho.
“We are happy to go to the next round,” said Hwang at the post-match press conference, “but soccer is a game of flow. If you don’t sink your opponent when you take the lead, you give them a chance.”
“I hope we don’t have to play like this in the future,” he said with a determined look on his face.
The Taeguk Warriors regained their aggressiveness in the second half, scoring three goals in quick succession to seal the victory.
“I pointed out (at halftime) that we played loose after scoring two goals, that we had a lot of mistakes and boring passes, except for the goal,” Hwang said.
“We struggled psychologically (in the second half), being in the position of being chased. We’re going to be in a lot of those situations in the quarterfinals,” he said, adding, “We have to make sure we’re not psychologically shaken. We have three days to organize that and get ready for the next game.”
Next up is a tough Chinese opponent.
Hwang Sun-hong traveled to Jinhua in June and played two exhibition games against the Chinese, but their preparations were hampered by injuries to key players such as Uhm Won-sang (Ulsan) and Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon) due to the rough play of their opponents.
The fact that China will be playing in a ‘trilateral match’ with the enthusiastic support of their home fans is also a burdensome factor.
“It’s a scenario we fully expected,” said Hwang. If we can’t overcome the pressure of a large crowd and rough play, we can’t win the gold medal,” said Huang. “No one can stand in our way. We have three steps to go, and we will take them one by one. I think it’s going to be a great match.” 스포츠토토
