The South Korean national soccer team, led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, won 1-0 against Iraq at the New York University Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, at 10 p.m. on the 6th (Korea time). Korea finished preparing for the Asian Cup with a victory in the final mock test.
Korea, which aims to win its first Group E title in 64 years, will play with Bahrain (Jan. 15), Jordan (Jan. 20) and Malaysia (Jan. 25) in Group E in turn. If Korea tops Group E, its opponent in the round of 16 teams will be No. 2 in Group D. It is one of Japan, Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam. The second-ranked team will face the first-ranked team in Group F, which includes Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Oman.
More than any other Asian team, Korea desperately wants to win the title. Korea, which is suffering from the Asian Cup jinx, has won the title in consecutive events at the first event in 1956 and the second event in 1960. However, Korea has been in second place only four times over the next 63 years, which has nothing to do with winning the title.
Although it has boasted Asia’s best performance every time, strangely, South Korea has many unfortunate scenes at the Asian Cup, leading to the term “the curse of the Asian Cup.” In the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, the host country lost to Australia after extra time, and in the 2019 Asian Cup in Qatar, it lost to Qatar, the winner, 0-1 in the quarterfinals.
That’s why he has a different attitude toward the Asian Cup. In particular, there is a possibility that it will be the last Asian Cup for Son Heung-min, the captain of the national team, and 2024, when world class players such as Kim Min-jae, Lee Kang-in, and Hwang Hee-chan are in their prime, is the best time for Korea to recover the Asian throne.
He boasts of excellent motivation as well as strength in his performance. However, he must not let down his guard. In other words, Korea’s Asian Cup jinx was effectively stopped by Middle Eastern teams. The team lost to Saudi Arabia in the semifinals at the 2000 Lebanon Games, Iran in the quarterfinals at the 2004 China Games, and Iraq in the semifinals at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games after penalty kicks.
It is safe to say that the match against Iraq is a test stage that takes place as the first step toward overcoming the Middle East jinx. Korea was particularly weak against Middle East physical pressure and bed soccer. The goal of the match against Iraq was to present a way to overcome and attack the opponent team.
However, it was not easy. The Middle East’s tough physical fight overlapped with the referee’s decision. The game itself went smoothly. However, the Middle East’s unique play, in which Korea had to meet severely to win the Asian Cup from the group stage, bothered Korea once again. Korea, which operated the rotation in the first half, failed to display good performance as if it were embarrassed by the opponent’s fierce ball race. 카지노사이트 순위
Even after taking the lead with Lee Jae-seong’s first goal, he almost collapsed with a single counterattack from Iraq. Notably, Oh Hyun-gyu, who was at the forefront of the team, struggled the hardest. Crosses were frequently distributed to the front through Lee Ki-je or Seol Young-woo on the side, but Oh showed disappointment throughout the first half. He failed to catch the ball with 1/5 in the ground race and 0/3 in the air race.
Apart from this scene, Iraqi players stimulated Korean players through rough plays. In the 39th minute of the second half, Lee Kang-in was hit in the face by an Iraqi player. When Lee Kang-in responded, he was sent off with a yellow card.
Lee Kang-in’s exit itself can be understood, but it was also a problem that the Iraqi player who hit the opponent in the face was only yellow, not red, even though it was not an in-play situation. In many ways, it was inevitable for the players to suffer from a combination of rough plays and incomprehensible decisions.
The match against Iraq was nothing short of showing the Middle East teams that South Korea will meet at the Asian Cup in the future. The sand winds in the Middle East, which made South Korea cry every time, were still fierce. Attention is focusing on whether the Klinsman can show a solution to the sand winds.