Coach Lee Min-sung, who admitted his lackluster performance, vowed to "rebound" against Australia in the quarterfinals

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Min-sung (53), head coach of the U-23 national soccer team, said ahead of the quarterfinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup against Australia, "I think it's an opportunity from heaven to reach the quarterfinals even with a bad performance in the group qualifying round."

Coach Lee Min-sung attended an official press conference before the Australian match in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Saudi Arabia on the 16th and said, "We will do our best to unite as one and play a good game against Australia."

South Korea previously drew 0-0 with Iran in Group C before winning a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Lebanon. In the final match against Uzbekistan, they were completely defeated 0-2 after a lethargic game. Even though Uzbekistan entered the tournament as a U-21 team, two years younger than South Korea, the result was a complete defeat for South Korea.

However, Lee Min-sung dramatically advanced to the quarterfinals as Iran lost 0-1 to Lebanon at the same time, ranking second in the group (four points) after Uzbekistan (seven points). The quarterfinals against Australia, ranked first in Group D, will be held at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 0:30 a.m. on the 18th (Korea Standard Time).

Head coach Lee Min-sung said, "Physically, I think we have prepared well since the preliminary round. As for the technical part, there were quite a lot of parts about Passmiss in the three qualifying games. It wasn't the players' skills, it was the part where they couldn't overcome the burden of the game," he explained.

He then said, "Through the three qualifying games, he was able to shake off the pressure. The players intensively trained pass and penetration behind the scenes. "I will supplement that and show a good performance against Australia," he said.

"I think Australia is a fairly good team in positioning, and there are players who are physically excellent," Lee said. We are well aware of that," he said. "We think that if we are a little more aggressive with mobility, there will be good results."

He added, "We will do our best to help the players recover their confidence in participating in the tournament against Australia and go higher through a lot of communication with the players."

Australia and South Korea have nine wins, four draws, and three losses between the U-23 national teams. However, in June last year, immediately after Lee Min-sung's inauguration, he had only one draw and one loss in two domestic friendly matches. If they beat Australia and reach the semifinals of the tournament, it will be the first time in six years and three tournaments since the 2020 tournament. In both the 2022 and 2024 tournaments, they were eliminated from the quarterfinals.

If they advance to the semifinals, they will play a match between Korea and Japan to advance to the final. Japan beat Jordan in the quarterfinals on the 16th and reached the semifinals after a close penalty shootout. Japan, like Uzbekistan, also participated in this tournament as a U-21 team.

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*This content was translated by AI.