South Korea, which has strong pride in 'complete defeat against Uzbekistan', vowed to coach Lee Min-sung, "Taegeuk mark will show an unashamed performance."

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Min-sung (52), head coach of the South Korean national under-23 (U-23), expressed his strong determination ahead of the quarterfinals against Australia. South Korea aims to recover its pride by advancing to the semifinals after overcoming the shock of its complete defeat against Uzbekistan in the group stage.

The Korea Football Association announced on the 15th, "The quarterfinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup have been confirmed," adding, "South Korea will compete with Australia, which ranked first in Group D, for a ticket to the semifinals at the King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 0:30 a.m. on the 18th."

Earlier, South Korea was defeated 0-2 by Uzbekistan in the final Group C match held on the 13th, falling to second place in the group (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss). South Korea, which was on the verge of elimination, struggled to advance to the quarterfinals amid the luck of Lebanon catching Iran at the same time.

Coach Lee Min-sung said through the Korea Football Association, "Australia has good organizational power and balance of offense and defense. He said, "We are a strong team physically," and vowed, "We will prepare the entire team well so that they can show an unashamed performance in the Taegeuk mark."

According to the association, the national team, which moved from Riyadh to Jeddah, the showdown site, on the 14th, took a break without separate training and adjusted its condition. Head coach Lee Min-sung and representatives of the team will attend the official press conference at 5:40 p.m. on the 16th.

South Korea's quarterfinal opponent, Australia, took the top spot in the group after a dramatic match. In the final Group D match, he gave up the first run against Iraq, but scored two goals in the extra time to win 2-1. Australia, which had two wins and one loss (six points), advanced to the quarterfinals as the top of Group D, beating China (five points).

Historically, Korea was strong in Australia. He has nine wins, four draws, and three losses.

However, we must not let our guard down. In two warm-up matches in June last year, after coach Lee Min-sung took office, he failed to win with one draw and one loss. Australia is a strong team that has consistently achieved top-ranked performances, ranking third in the 2020 Thailand tournament and fourth in the 2022 Uzbekistan tournament.

If South Korea wins the quarterfinals against Australia, it is highly likely to meet its fateful rival Japan in the semifinals. According to the match table, the winner of the Korea-Australia match will face the winner of the Japan (No. 1 in Group B) and Jordan (No. 2 in Group A) at 8:30 p.m. on the 20th at the same place. Despite sending an under-21 national team to this tournament, Japan is considered a strong favorite, boasting a perfect performance of 10 points and no points in all three group matches.

Although the Olympic qualification is not at stake, the event is important as it affects the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic qualification seedings. South Korea even lost its pride by dropping out of the quarterfinals one after another in the 2022 and 2024 competitions.

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*This content was translated by AI.