Bentuho and Bellho, will they ring following victory side by side… Weekend East Asian Cup 2nd leg
Input 2022.07.22 (07:55)
yunhap news
The Korean men’s and women’s soccer teams will be hunting for points side by side in the 2022 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) this coming weekend.
The Korean men’s soccer team, led by coach Paulo Bento, will play the second leg of the East Asian Cup once morest Hong Kong at the Toyota Stadium in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 24th at 4 pm.
In the first game once morest China on the 20th, Bentuho, who won 3-0 by scoring an own goal and scoring by Kwon Chang-hoon and Cho Kyu-seong (Kim Cheon), starts the game for a winning streak.
As Japan and Korea are expected to face a two-fight match for the championship, Korea, which is challenging for the fourth consecutive East Asian Cup victory, must secure a multi-score victory over Hong Kong.
Currently, Japan, which defeated Hong Kong 6-0 in the first game, is first in the men’s division, followed by Korea.
Hong Kong ranks 145th in the FIFA ranking and is the ‘weakest’ among the four countries participating in the men’s division.
South Korea and Hong Kong have the upper hand with 21 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. They haven’t lost in 64 years since they lost 2-3 in an away friendly in 1958.
Although there is a difference in power, the experiment of the national team preparing for the 2022 Qatar World Cup continues.
Bento, who summoned 25 K-League members and Kwon Kyung-won (Gamba Osaka), who plays in the Japanese J-League, formed an attacking team with Cho Kyu-sung (Seoul), Na Sang-ho (Seoul), Kwon Chang-hoon (Kimcheon) and Um Won-sang (Ulsan), and Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk) , entrusted the midfield to Hwang In-beom (Seoul).
The four-backs, which lacked the starting centre-backs such as Kim Min-jae (Fenerbahce) and Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan), consisted of Kim Jin-soo (Jeonbuk), Kwon Kyung-won (Gamba Osaka), Jo Yu-min (Daejeon), and Yoon Jong-gyu (Seoul).
Goalkeepers Dong-Jun Kim (Jeju), Yoo-Min Cho, Seong-Jin Kang (Seoul), and Young-Jun Ko (Pohang) made their A Match debut.
While the existing Bentoo members such as Hwang In-beom, Kim Jin-soo, and Jo Kyu-seong once once more showed their presence in the match once morest China, Bento is expected to continue testing the competitive second line as well as the combination of the defense and the possibilities of players with little experience.
Prior to that, the women’s soccer team, led by coach Colin Bell, will play once morest China at Kashima Stadium in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan at 7 pm on the 23rd.
Korea, which tried to regain the top of the East Asian Cup for the first time in 17 years since 2005, when the first women’s tournament was held, lost 1-2 in the first match once morest Japan on the 19th, a step away from the championship.
Korea, which needs a reversal of the atmosphere, aims to win the tournament for the first time once morest China.
China’s women’s soccer is 16th in the FIFA rankings, not much different from Korea (18th), but Korea has shown a particularly weak side in the actual match.
South Korea recorded 4 wins, 7 draws and 29 losses once morest China.
In particular, Korea lost 3–4 to China in the Asian final play-off (PO) of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held as a home and away home and away team in April last year. In the final, they lost to China 2-3 and lost the title.
The last victory over China was a 1-0 victory over China with Seol-bin Jeong’s winning goal at the 2015 East Asian Cup in Wuhan, China.
Since then, Korea, which has met 8 times in A Match and lost 2 draws and 6 losses, is determined to overcome China without fail.
Ji So-yeon, ‘ace’ of the Korean national team, bit her lip following losing the Korea-Japan match, and said, “I want to stop playing ‘Underdog.’ have been chopped
[사진 출처 : 연합뉴스]
