Once again, South Korean college soccer has failed to break through the Japanese barrier.
South Korea’s national team, led by Hannam University head coach Park Kyu-sun, lost 0-2 to Japan’s national team at the 23rd DENSO Cup Korea-Japan University Football Tournament on Thursday at Anyang Sports Complex. With the loss, South Korea fell to 19 wins, 8 draws and 16 losses in the Korea-Japan regular season. The gap widened to 8 wins, 2 draws and 10 losses after the Denso Cup reorganization.
South Korea was seeking revenge for a 2-1 loss at home last September. It was their first home loss since the DENSO Cup reorganization. South Korea had been gritting its teeth in Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, for the past 14 days.
The whistle blew for the start of the match. South Korea played Park’s trademark “build-up soccer” to try to catch Japan off guard. It’s a style of soccer where the goalkeeper, the last man standing, is the initiator of the attack. However, the conditions were not ideal. The grass wasn’t perfect yet, and the ball bounced around. South Korea struggled to find attacking routes against their opponent’s pressing defense. Japan went on the attack with Hiroshi Muto, Nobuteru Nakagawa, and others. Korea didn’t register a single shot on goal for more than 30 minutes of the match.
Korea made a substitution in the 32nd minute of the first half.
Park Hee-soo took the field in place of Kim Kyung-min. South Korea won a set-piece situation to avoid the opponent’s pressure. However, Korea’s shots were unable to find the back of the net. In particular, Park Gyeom’s shot from a direct free kick hit the post and bounced away. The first half ended 0-0.
At the start of the second half, Korea made another substitution. Kang Min-jae took the field in place of Yoon Hyun-seok. It was Japan who scored the first goal in a tense battle. Kenta Nemoto’s pass from a corner kick was headed home by Gotaro Uchino. 안전놀이터 추천 Japan took a 1-0 lead. Uchino is a relatively familiar name to Korean fans. He surprised Hwang Sun-hong-ho in last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games final against South Korea by scoring the opening goal two minutes after kickoff. With the momentum in his favor, Uchino added a second goal in the 25th minute of the second half.
South Korea utilized a series of substitutions to try and turn the game around, but it didn’t quite work out the way they had hoped. Korea held its head in its hands as Kim Min-jae’s shot sailed wide in the final minute of the game. South Korea hung its head in shame as it lost to Japan at home for the second straight year.
Meanwhile, South Korea has not won a single game in the tournament. They played to a 2-2 draw in the Champions League (first- and second-year players) at Hyochang Stadium on Sept. 23. The women’s college soccer team lost 1-4 in the Denso Cup.