"Shocked by Uzbekistan" Coach Lee Min-sung said, "A completely defeated game, urgent need to identify problems."

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Min-sung, coach of the U-23 national soccer team, blamed himself for the shock defeat against Uzbekistan, saying, "I made a tactical mistake."

According to the Korea Football Association, head coach Lee Min-sung said at a press conference shortly after his 0-2 defeat against Uzbekistan in Group C of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup at Prince Faisal Bin Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the 13th (Korea time). "It's a pity that we couldn't play the game we wanted to play at all," he said.

On this day, South Korea recorded 67 percent of ball possession, but was rather inferior to 6-8 in the number of shots, and only one shot was effective. The opponent had four shots on target. South Korea, which lost goals in three and 25 minutes in a row in the second half after finishing the first half without scoring, was eventually completely defeated by Uzbekistan 0-2.

South Korea, which could reach the quarterfinals on its own just by drawing, was on the verge of elimination due to the defeat, but at the same time, Iran managed to qualify for the quarterfinals thanks to the news of its defeat in Lebanon. In Group C, Uzbekistan ranked first with seven points (2 wins and 1 draw), and South Korea ranked second with four points (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss). Lebanon was eliminated with three points (1 win and 2 losses) and Iran with two points (2 draws and 1 loss).

Coach Lee Min-sung said, "There is nothing to say that it is a strength (from today's game)," adding, "I made a tactical mistake. There seems to have been confusion in the composition of the selection, but it is important to reorganize it well," he said.

Coach Lee then said, "The quarterfinal match should go to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The analysis of the quarterfinals is after the match has been decided, he said. "First of all, it is urgent to identify your own problems. Our team's analysis comes first," he said.

South Korea will compete with China, Australia, Iraq and Thailand for the first place in Group D and advance to the semifinals at 0:30 a.m. on the 18th.

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*This content was translated by AI.