Japanese media “DAZN” reported a preview article of Korea-Australia, Tajikistan-Jordan in the quarterfinals of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar on the 2nd (Korea time).
“DAZN” gave a cool evaluation of the Korean national team, saying, “We struggled in the group league and were on the verge of elimination in the round of 16 against Saudi Arabia. The victory in the dramatic equalizer and penalty shootout in the second half of the extra time was great, but we did not make an effective attack against Saudi Arabia for 80 minutes.”
The Korean national soccer team, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, is struggling at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. It was expected that the team would rank No. 1 in the group with Bahrain, Jordan, and Malaysia, but ended up ranking second after a rough-and-ready battle.
Even though the team beat Bahrain 3-1 in the first group match, it did not receive good performance evaluation. After allowing the team to tie even after scoring the first goal, the team garnered an uphill victory by banking on Lee Kang-in’s personal ability.
The result of the second group match was a 2-2 draw with Jordan. Son Heung-min gained the upper hand by scoring the first goal from a penalty kick early in the first half, but the team was shaken by Jordan’s strong forward pressure and rapid counterattack. After allowing the team to turn the game around 1-2, the team barely scored an equalizer in the extra time of the second half, avoiding defeat. More and more people are criticizing the coach’s lack of tactics.
Korea also failed to make a turnaround in the match against Malaysia, the weakest team in Group E. Malaysia ranks 130th in the FIFA rankings, compared with Korea, which ranks 23rd. The prevailing expectation was that Korea would win the match against Malaysia.
When I opened the lid, however, it was fortunate that the team did not lose. Jung Woo-young (Stutgart) scored the first goal at the 21st minute of the first half, but gave up two goals to Malaysia in the second half due to lack of concentration on defense.
After Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) shot a free kick in the 38th minute of the second half, Korea struggled to come from behind to 3-2 due to Malaysia’s own goal and Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur) scoring a penalty kick in the extra time of the second half. Still, expectations were high that the match would be over with the victory.
Malaysia, however, was tenacious and even opened the scoring for Korea once more. Korea bowed out just before the closing minutes of the second half when it lost a point to Romel Morales. It ended the game with a 3-3 draw that looked like a loss.
South Korea, which advanced to the round of 16 as the second-ranked player in Group E, failed to show its potential even in the match against Saudi Arabia. Both offense and defense were losing ground to Saudi Arabia in the first half. At the end of the first half, the team faced a critical loss in a corner kick situation. It was fortunate that the Saudi header was lucky to have hit our goal twice.
Korea eventually allowed Saudi Arabia to score the first goal at the start of the second half. Salem Aldosari’s penetration pass broke down the defense line and Abdullah Hadi Ladif shook Korea’s net.
South Korea launched a flurry of wave strikes afterwards, but failed to open Saudi Arabia’s goal. It was a series of unfortunate moments, as the team was blocked by the opponent team’s goalkeeper’s defense and defenders’ hand-to-hand defense.
A miracle occurred in the extra time of the second half, when the ticket to the quarterfinals seemed to lean toward Saudi Arabia. Cho Kyu-sung, who was replaced in the second half, saved Korean soccer and Klinsmann, who were on the edge of the cliff.
Cho made the score tied 1-1 with his head when Seol scored a header from the box in front of the goal. Coach Klinsmann and the Korean team showed their joy as if they had won the title and completely dominated the atmosphere in the stadium.
South Korea also took the lead in the first and second half of extra time and solved the game, but there were no additional goals. In the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo’s strong defense and Son Heung-min, Kim Young-kwon, Cho Kyu-sung and Hwang Hee-chan all calmly scored, beating Saudi Arabia with a penalty shootout score of 4-2, settling for the quarterfinals.
Korea barely managed to advance to the quarterfinals, but it has to beat Australia to secure a ticket to the semifinals. Australia ranks 25th in the FIFA rankings, and is considered a favorite team along with Korea, Japan and Iran.
Regardless of its performance objectively, Australia has physical strength superiority over Korea. Australia defeated Indonesia 4-0 on June 28, and will play against Korea in the quarterfinals after taking sufficient rest. In contrast, Korea had only two days to catch its breath.
Australia’s performance is also on the rise. “Australia was stable through the group stage and the round of 16,” DAZN said. “It has diverse sources of scores and patterns, and has scored eight points and one run in four matches in this tournament. The quarterfinals against Korea will be the first clash between teams that are expected to win the 2023 Asian Cup.”
“DAZN” also pointed out the problems of the Korean attack combination. It is believed that the tactic of deploying Son Heung-min to the front line is not having much effect.
“Korea’s ace, Son Heung-min, didn’t perform very well in the center. We may need to reconsider the combination of offense,” he said. “If we lose to Australia, we will be out. We need to find the best combination in the current lineup against Australia,” he stressed.
If Korea beats Australia, the semifinals could be much easier. The opponent team in the semifinals is the winner of the match between Tajikistan and Jordan. Although vigilance is prohibited, chances are high that Korea will advance to the finals rather than meeting Iran, Qatar, Japan and Uzbekistan, as it has superiority in objective performance.
BY: 토토사이트