There were only two South Korean coaches in the semifinals of 'Lee Min-sung and Kim Sang-sik', and the U23 Asian Cup '8 years later.'

*This content was translated by AI.

The semifinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 (U-23) Asian Cup have been confirmed. Two Korean coaches, Lee Min-sung, head coach of the South Korean U-23 national team, and Kim Sang-sik, head coach of the Vietnamese U-23 national team, advanced to the semifinals side by side.

The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, which is being held in Saudi Arabia, was finalized as South Korea beat Australia 2-1 on the 18th (Korea Standard Time) to reach the semifinals. The "Football Korea-Japan Match" between South Korea and Japan will be held at 8:30 p.m. on the 20th, and Vietnam and China will clash at 0:30 a.m. on the 21st.

It is the first time in six years and three tournaments that Korea has reached the semifinals of the tournament since the 2020 tournament. Defending champion Japan has reached the semifinals for three consecutive tournaments, while Vietnam has reached the semifinals for the first time in eight years since 2018. China has rewritten its history with the quarterfinals and the semifinals for the first time in its history.

It is also notable that half of the teams that reached the semifinals are Korean head coaches. Not only coach Lee Min-sung but also coach Kim Sang-sik led Vietnam to the semifinals. South Korea previously recorded one win, one draw and one loss (four points) in Group C, advancing to the quarterfinals as the second-ranked team in the group, and then beating Australia to the semifinals. 'Kim Sang-sik' Vietnam beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the quarterfinals after winning all three games in Group A and passing first place.

It is the first time in eight years that two Korean coaches have advanced to the semifinals of the U23 Asian Cup since 2018. At that time, head coach Kim Bong-gil led the Korean national team and head coach Park Hang-seo led the Vietnamese national team. However, Vietnam reached the final and finished second, while South Korea was eliminated in the semifinals and then pushed to the third place final.

It is the second consecutive time that a Korean head coach has reached the semifinals of the tournament since the 2024 tournament. At the 2024 tournament, South Korea was eliminated in the quarterfinals, but Shin reached the semifinals as Indonesia, led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, beat South Korea to reach the semifinals. In the 2022 tournament, which was just before that, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Japan, and Australia reached the semifinals, and there was no Korean head coach, and in 2020, South Korea, led by head coach Kim Hak-beom, reached the final and led the team to its first championship.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited final of this competition will be held at midnight on the 24th. The third-place match between the semifinal defeat teams will be held at midnight the previous day. As the Olympics are not held this year, the results of this year's event have nothing to do with the right to participate in the Olympics.

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*This content was translated by AI.