Coach Hwang Sun-hong, who has good memories in Qatar, is now trying to write a story again as a leader.
South Korea’s U-23 national soccer team (Olympic national team), led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, will play the first Group B match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup and the final Asian qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 0:30 a.m. on the 17th (Korea time).
Looking at the tournament as a whole, it is worth paying attention to the story of coach Hwang Sun-hong, not a specific player.
Qatar, where the event will take place, is a country that has deep ties with Hwang when he was a player. Hwang has fond memories of the country of Qatar and the city of Doha.
Coach Hwang Sun-hong is a former legendary Korean striker who currently has a brilliant record of 50 goals in 113 A matches, but he was an unknown player when he played his first A match. Coach Hwang Sun-hong, who was attending Konkuk University during the 1988 Asian Cup, headed to Qatar under criticism over the selection of the national team.
Hwang reversed the public sentiment in Qatar with his performance. In his A-match debut, he also had one goal and one assist, including his debut goal, in the “Korea-Japan match.” Hwang, who also scored an additional goal in the fourth group match against Iran, won the 1988 Asian Cup with Korea, and later emerged as Korea’s next-generation striker and has become a star player.
In 1993, five years after making his A-match debut, he displayed a miracle in Doha, Qatar. Hwang scored South Korea’s second goal against North Korea in the final match of the Asian qualifying round for the 1994 FIFA U.S. World Cup, which is considered the “Miracle of Doha.”
At the time, South Korea beat North Korea 3-0 by combining goals from coach Hwang Sun-hong and goals from current Gimpo FC coach Ko Jeong-woon and current Ajou University coach Ha Seok-joo. Playing the last match against Iraq at the same time, Japan lost the tying goal in extra time in the second half, failing to advance to the finals of the 1994 U.S. World Cup.
Coach Hwang, who experienced a twist in 1988 and a miracle in 1993, is now trying to make Qatar his “land of promise.” He is trying to add a story he had written as a player to the story he had written as a coach.
Victory comes of course from the match against the UAE. The importance of the first match cannot be overemphasized several times at a tournament in which players are determined to advance to the tournament based on points earned and differences in scores.
It is obvious that a victory in the first match would spread the mood throughout the event and result in good results. If the team beats the UAE, it will likely bring positive energy to the team in its second and third matches against East Asian rivals China and Japan.
“All the teams here are strong opponents. The group of deaths is right. I will do my best to survive the fierce competition,” Hwang told a news conference before the match. “The first match against the UAE is very important. I will do my best to lead the team to victory by displaying all my capabilities.”
Attention is also focusing on whether Hwang will be able to overcome difficulties again this time. Hwang started the competition after facing difficulties as three players from European leagues: Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic FC), Kim Ji-soo (Brentford), and Bae Joon-ho (Stock City) failed to recruit players from other teams. Jung Sang-bin (Minnesota), one of the only overseas players, also joined the team a day before the competition, and it is uncertain whether he will play in the match against UAE.
Coach Hwang said he would overcome the situation by banking on the strength of the K-League players. “We need to balance our teamwork through the preliminary round. We will overcome the current problem. We need to show the strength of the K-League players,” Hwang said, urging the K-League players to display their strong performance. 토토사이트 추천