China's men's Asian Games team managed to advance to the last eight of the Asian Games with a narrow 1-0 win over Qatar U23 in a tense match. This is the second time after 25 years that the national football team has entered the second round of the Asian Games knockout stage, and they will next face the favorite team to win the championship, South Korea, for the quarter-final. The highlight of the match was highly anticipated, but to the detriment of the national soccer team, two star players, Jiang Shenglong and Gao Tianyi, were unable to play in the quarterfinals due to suspensions. Predictably, the national football team will face tremendous pressure on defense. South Korea performed bravely in the Asian Games, as if injected with new vigor. They scored 21 goals in 4 matches and lost only 1 goal. In addition, South Korean players are aiming to win the gold medal as it will exempt them from military service. Therefore, the national soccer team's manager and players have to be ready for a tough battle for the next match.
CCTV will broadcast the match between the national soccer team and South Korea live on October 1 at 8pm. This is an early showdown which is very important for both teams. If you lose, you will be eliminated and the winner will have a chance to win the gold medal. However, to no one's surprise, South Korean men's soccer coach Hwang Sang-hong mocked Chinese players for playing too violently in an interview. "I fully expected China to beat Qatar, and if we can't overcome the pressure of the crowd and rough play, we don't deserve to win the gold medal." As we all know, Hwang Hee-sun is totally throwing dirt on the fact that South Korean players are not playing well, and the 2022 World Cup in Korea and Japan is the best example of that.
Hwang Hee-sun's feud with the national soccer team dates back to around 2000. Hwang Hee-sun also got injured during the match between South Korea and the national soccer team and even missed the World Cup. This time, he led the South Korean U23 to meet the national soccer team in the Asian Games, and it is not surprising that he made such comments. Moreover, Li Xuan, a reporter from Football Daily, also commented that judging from Hwang Hee-sun's mental state, the match was not a good one. This means that the strength of South Korea U23 is much higher than the national soccer team, but it may be difficult for South Korean coaches to keep their sanity when coaching on the field, and the national soccer team has a chance to win.
Han Jiaqi, the core goalkeeper of the national soccer team for the Asian Games, also talked about the match against South Korea in an interview. He was very dominant. When he met the Korean team, he killed them. There was no discussion. "There is no need to mobilize for this game. We have to give it our all, leave no regrets and let them go." . Regardless of the final result, momentum cannot be lost, especially against South Korea. I believe the national soccer players will fight until the last minute. If they win, they can get a gold medal.
Djurdjevic, the head coach of the national Asian Games team put South Korean head coach Hwang Hee-sun to shame with his interview. "I will respect them in the press conference, but once the match starts, we will do our best to beat them. I want our injured players to recover as soon as possible and the team will schedule a day off, followed by three days to prepare for the match against Korea." Djurdjevic must have been aware of Hwang Hee-sun's statement as well, but instead of opting for a direct counterattack, he responded sensitively with a euphemism, showing that he knows how to handle relationships very well.
