Over 50,000 Chinese fans visited the stadium during the메이저사이트 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday on National Day. Even before the start, the stands rang with the shout of ‘Jayeowoo’ (加油), which means cheer up. However, the Chinese fans’ cheering became quiet every time Korea scored.
The under-24 national soccer team led by coach Hwang Seon-hong defeated China in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, China on the 1st and advanced to the semifinals. Korea will compete with Uzbekistan on the 4th to advance to the finals. In another semifinal, Japan and Hong Kong advanced to the semifinals by defeating North Korea and Iran, respectively.
The quarterfinals match held on this day in China was held with almost 51,000 seats filled, reflecting the popularity of soccer. Korea boasts tremendous firepower, scoring 21 goals through the group stage preliminaries (16 goals) and the round of 16 (5 goals). Perhaps because of this, Chinese home fans continued to shout loudly to cheer up their players even before the game started.
At the beginning of the game, Korean players booed when they caught the ball, and when their own players continued to pass, the stadium roared as if they were going to leave.
However, contrary to the Chinese spectators’ hopes, it was Korea that dominated the field.
Coach Hwang Seon-hong selected Cho Young-wook as the starting striker that day, and sent out Baek Seung-ho, Hong Hyun-seok, Ko Young-jun, Song Min-gyu, and Ahn Jae-jun as midfielders and wingers. At the back, experienced Park Jin-seop and Hwang Jae-jun formed a barrier, and Lee Gwang-yeon guarded the goal.
Korea’s superiority, carved out with speedy passes, paid off with Hong Hyun-seok’s free kick goal in the 18th minute of the first half. Hong Hyun-seok struck the top right corner of the Chinese goal with a free kick attempted near the opponent’s arc. The Chinese audience, who shouted ‘Jiyou’ and raised their voices with stick balloons, fell into silence for a moment.
Korea, which gained momentum with the first goal, maintained the lead with quick midfield passes by Ko Young-jun and Hong Hyun-seok and penetration of flank resources, and ran away with an additional goal from Song Min-gyu, who tactfully touched Cho Young-wook’s cross in the 35th minute of the first half.
China attempted to change in the second half by replacing players. However, coach Hwang Sun-hong counterattacked by sending in the team’s main guns, Jung Woo-young, Eom Won-sang, and Lee Kang-in, at the same time in the 20th minute of the second half, and China, whose backline became uneasy due to their sharp attack work, was unable to respond well.
As the second half drew to a close, the Chinese crowd chanted enthusiastically, hoping for their own players to make an effort and score a goal, but unfortunately no goal was scored.
Meanwhile, North Korea gave up the first goal in the 5th minute of the second half in the quarterfinals against Japan on this day, but balanced the score with Kim Kook-beom’s equalizer in the 29th minute of the second half. However, they lost the final to Matsumura in the 35th minute of the second half and failed to advance to the semifinals.