Reporter Ahn Young-joon = The Korean U20 soccer team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, crossed the ninth division line to advance to the quarterfinals. Even if a draw is achieved in the final match, they will advance to the tournament as first place in their group.
‘Kim Eun-joong’ won 2-0 in the second leg of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U20 Asian Cup Group C group stage against Jordan held at JAR Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the 5th (hereinafter Korean time).
Korea, which won 4-0 in the first match against Oman on the 2nd, maintained its lead in the group with 2 wins (6 points). On the 8th, the venue will be moved to Millie Stadium for the final match of the group stage.
Although they won two games, the quarterfinals are not completely confirmed. As Tajikistan defeated Oman in another match of the same group held afterwards, in Group C, Korea has 2 wins, Jordan and Tajikistan each have 1 win and 1 loss (3 points), and Oman has 2 losses (0 points).
Even if Korea achieves at least a draw in their last game against Tajikistan, they can rise to first place in the group. However, if Korea loses to Tajikistan and Jordan defeats Oman, and all three teams end up with 2 wins and 1 loss, the difference in goal should be considered.
However, even in this case, Korea is ahead of Jordan (0) and Tajikistan (-1) in terms of goal difference (+6).
Manager Kim Eun-joong said, “I will concentrate on passing the group stage first by focusing on the remaining games without thinking about the past games.”
Meanwhile, in the other group, Uzbekistan (Group A) and Vietnam (Group B) are cruising with two consecutive victories. 스포츠토토
Group D, which will meet Korea in the tournament, has only played one match yet, and as expected, Japan and Saudi Arabia defeated China and Kyrgyzstan respectively to report victories.
In this tournament, 16 teams are divided into 4 groups to play a group stage of 4 teams, and the 1st and 2nd places in each group play a quarterfinal tournament to determine the final champion.
Through this tournament, Korea aims to regain the top spot in Asia for the first time in 11 years since 2012 and to qualify for the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup finals, given to the top four teams.
As the possibility of advancing to the quarterfinals has increased, attention is focused on the matchup in the quarterfinals. Unlike the group stage, which has a relatively easy schedule, there is a high possibility of meeting Japan or Saudi Arabia, the ‘champion candidates’, in the quarterfinals.
It is an important match with a ticket to the U20 World Cup finals and is expected to be the biggest hurdle in the tournament that can decide whether or not to win.