Lost in The Group Stage, But Semi-Final Hong Kong Mystery

There is a team that is on the verge of winning an Asian Games medal even after losing all of its group games. It is the Hong Kong national soccer team. 토토사이트

Hong Kong advanced to the men’s football semi-finals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. I will compete with Japan for the final. If you are a soccer fan, Hong Kong’s advance to the semifinals is unfamiliar. Hong Kong ranks 148th in the FIFA rankings. This is because it is a team that has not made significant results in Asian tournaments due to the periphery of soccer. However, it is even more surprising to look at the process of Hong Kong reaching the semifinals. It’s more of a mystery.

Hong Kong lost all two games in the group stage of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Here’s the story. Hong Kong was placed in Group C with Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Syria at the tournament. However, with Afghanistan and Syria absent at the end of the tournament, only Uzbekistan and Hong Kong remain in Group C. The organizing committee of the competition decided not to regroup, and Group C decided to play in a way that Uzbekistan and Hong Kong face each other twice. Regardless of the outcome of the match, Group C received a de facto privilege for both Uzbekistan and Hong Kong to reach the round of 16.

In the other group, four teams played fiercely from the group stage to finish in the top two of the group. On the other hand, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong have already confirmed their advance to the round of 16, so they played the group stage game with a comfortable mind as if it were a practice match. Hong Kong advanced to the round of 16 despite losing both 0-1 and 1-2 against Uzbekistan.

The luck of the match followed. Hong Kong met Palestine, the second-ranked team in Group D, which is relatively weak among the countries that reached the round of 16, and won 1-0 to join the quarterfinals. Of course, there were moments when I showed my skills. In the quarterfinals, Hong Kong beat Iran, the Asian powerhouse, 1-0. Iran ranks 21st in the FIFA rankings, the second highest after Japan 19th. He was the favorite to win. This is the first time that Hong Kong has reached the semifinals of men’s soccer since the first Asian Games in 1951, and the quarterfinals have been in 65 years since 1958.

The Hong Kong coach is also a familiar figure to Korean soccer fans. Yern Andersen Norway, who served as the head coach of North Korea from 2016 to 2018 and took the helm of Incheon in the K League 1 professional soccer in 2018. Ahead of the semifinals against Japan on the 4th, Andersen said, There are many talented players in Japan, adding, But if we fight stronger, we will be able to take a chance against Japan, which has many relatively young players. The winner of the Hong Kong-Japan match will compete for gold in the final against the winner of the South Korea-Uzbekistan match.