"I'm proud of the players, the semi-finals are better performance," said Lee Min-sung, head coach of the "semi-finals."

*This content was translated by AI.

Coach Lee Min-sung, who led the South Korean U-23 national team's advance to the semifinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, said, "I'm grateful for all the players for holding out in difficult situations," adding, "I'll prepare well to show better performance in the semifinals."

Lee Min-sung advanced to the semifinals by beating Australia 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the tournament held at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 18th (Korea Standard Time). South Korea, which broke the balance with Baek Ga-on (Busan I'Park)'s first goal in the 21st minute of the first half, lost the equalizer in the 7th minute of the second half, but Shin Min-ha (Gangwon FC)'s come-from-behind winning goal two minutes before the end won 2-1.

After drawing 0-0 with Iran in Group C and winning 4-2 against Lebanon, South Korea, which was completely defeated by two-year-old Uzbekistan 0-2, managed to advance to the quarterfinals thanks to Iran's loss to Lebanon. Criticism was loud not only in the quarterfinals of "Eobooji-ri" but also in the performance, but Lee Min-sung passed the tournament's first gateway and made the semifinals.

It is the first time in six years that Korea has reached the semifinals of this tournament and only three tournaments since the 2020 tournament (winning). In both the 2022 and 2024 competitions, they were eliminated early in the quarterfinals. South Korea will compete with Japan for the finals at 8:30 p.m. on the 20th at the same place.

Coach Lee Min-sung, who attended the post-match press conference and said, "I want to thank God so much," said, "As we prepared for the match against Australia, the part where we decided to take strong pressure from the opponent's back space or midfielders was right. After the loss, the players were shaken, and I am grateful that those parts improved and scored a come-from-behind goal and won. I'm so proud of the players," he said.

Coach Lee Min-sung said, "The players were quite willing to protect after scoring. I was disappointed that the line was too low, and there were miss scenes in defense," he said, adding, "The players made up for it well after that. I scored from a set piece while owning the ball," he said.

"There are scenes where I didn't score when I got a good chance, but I grow up doing that," coach Lee said, adding, "I will prepare well to show better performance in the semifinals than this time."

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*This content was translated by AI.