Vietnamese media also questioned 'Strange Things' "Now reviewing the Asian Cup in South Korea, many controversies over the retention of Korea's citizenship."

*This content was translated by AI.

Vietnamese media also questioned the decision by the Korea Football Association to "remain" Lee Min-sung, coach of the U-23 national soccer team, and the timing. It was a question of the coach's decision to remain in office long after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, citing domestic reports.

Vietnamese media outlet Tien Phong said on the 15th (Korea Standard Time), "It's really strange that the Korea Football Association just reviewed the AFC U-23 Asian Cup and issued a warning to coach Lee Min-sung," adding, "It wasn't just a defeat for South Korea to lose to Vietnam in the third place match of the tournament." It was a huge shock to Korean soccer as it will remain a historical event," he said.

Citing domestic reports that reported the decision to retain coach Lee Min-sung of the Korea Football Association, the media said, "It was on the 23rd of last month that South Korea and Vietnam clashed in the third place match of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup, but the announcement of the Korea Football Association came only on February 13." "At the meeting of the Korea Football Association's Power Enhancement Committee, coach Lee Min-sung announced plans to prepare for the 2026 Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games." Coach Lee Min-sung's plan was accepted by the committee, but at the same time, it was pointed out by the Power Reinforcement Committee that the performance of the last U-23 Asian Cup was not satisfactory.

"The decision of the Korea Football Association's Power Enhancement Committee to give Lee Min-sung an additional opportunity is causing a lot of controversy (in Korea)," he said. "In particular, the current Power Enhancement Committee appointed Lee Min-sung as the coach of the U-23 national team." As a result, public opinion in Korea is raising great questions about the personnel evaluation ability and objectivity of the Korea Football Association," he added.

Earlier, the Korea Football Association announced the retention of Lee Min-sung's U-23 national team through a press release on the 13th. Earlier, South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, had only a sluggish performance throughout the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup, especially losing to Uzbekistan and Japan, who are two years younger, and losing for the first time (the official record was drawn) after a penalty shootout in the third place match against Vietnam.

The Korea Football Association, however, decided to appoint a new head coach of the national team to prepare for the Los Angeles (LA) Olympics two years later after the first meeting immediately after the Asian Cup last month and the second meeting on the 10th. Coach Lee Min-sung reportedly explained the overall preparation process, supplements, and directions for improvement at a meeting of the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee, and announced his plan to compress the pool of players and increase organizational power based on inspections in the future.

While clearly pointing out that the national team's performance at the tournament did not meet the fans' expectations, the National Power Reinforcement Committee agreed that it was also meaningful in the process of supplementing the problem by checking the pool of players that have been identified for the Asian Games in actual international competitions. The Korea Football Association officially said, "We have decided that maintaining the continuity of the process so far is more appropriate to achieve the gold medal goal than to prepare for a new system." The current power reinforcement committee under Chairman Hyun Young-min directly appointed Lee Min-sung's U-23 national team last year.

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*This content was translated by AI.