Hwang Seon-hong, the 10th consecutive Olympic challenge, lost 0-1 in the Saudi warm-up match
Last updated
Last updated
The final warm-up match just before Hwang Seon-hong's Olympic qualifying round ended in defeat.
Hwang Sun-hong will now begin his journey to the world's first 10 consecutive Olympic finals after his final tempering in Qatar.
The Saudi Football Association said on its website on the 10th that the Saudi U-23 national team won 1-0 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on the 9th local time.
The South Korean Olympic soccer team, led by head coach Hwang, has been leaving for the UAE on the 5th to conduct off-season training ahead of its participation in the U-23 Asian Cup, which will also be held in the final qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Qatar from the 15th.
In addition to the fact that the Korea Football Association will hold a warm-up match on the 9th, the opponent and results were closed to the public, but the news of the game was reported by the announcement of the Saudi Arabian Football Association.
Saudi Jihad Zakri scored the winning goal in the 27th minute of the second half, according to the Saudi Football Association.
South Korea beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the semifinals of the Western Asian Football Confederation WAFF U-23 Championship held in Saudi Arabia last month.
At the U-23 Asian Cup, South Korea, along with Japan, China, and the UAE, will be in Group B, while Saudi Arabia will compete with Iraq, Thailand, and Tajikistan in Group C.
After adapting to the local area, they will play in the group stage starting on the 15th. The U-23 Asian Cup is a stage that can save the honor of Korean soccer, which was eliminated in February due to the shock loss against Jordan in the Asian Cup semifinals at the Asian Cup, as a total of 3.5 tickets are at stake for the final Asian soccer qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in July.
In Korean sports as a whole, all national teams in ball games except women's handball failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, so men's soccer is desperately needed to advance to the finals.
However, since Korea belongs to Group B with Japan, China, and the UAE and was virtually organized in the "Group of Death," it is expected to take a difficult step from the first match against the UAE.
Moreover, the departure of Yang Hyun-joon Celtic and Kim Ji-soo Brentford has made it difficult to establish normal capacity. Hwang will launch Plan B. Chung Sang-bin Minnesota also joined the team on Wednesday, two days before the first group match, and it is uncertain whether he will play in the first group match.
The current situation of Bae Joon-ho Stoke City remains unknown. His team Stoke City is competing for relegation by ranking 19th 12 wins, 10 draws, 19 losses, 46 points in the English Championship Part 2.
It is up to the Korea Football Association to decide whether Stoke will take the risk of Bae Joon-ho, the core of the team, falling into the most important April schedule and cooperate with the transfer.
Hwang will play his first Group B match against the UAE at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. It will have matches against China at 10 p.m. on Saturday and Japan at 10 p.m. on Sunday. If he advances to the quarterfinals, he will face a team that ranks first or second in Group A, which includes Qatar, Australia and Jordan.