Lee Min Sung-ho won 2-1 over Japan's U21 two years younger... Lee Young-joon multi-goal

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean national under-23 (U-23) national soccer team, which is preparing for the 2026 Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games, won a sweaty victory over the Japanese under-21 national team.

According to Japanese media Soccer Digest and Gekisaka, South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, beat Japan 2-1 with Lee Young-joon (Grathhofer)'s multi-goal in a closed practice game at Korea Football Park in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, on the 29th.

Lee Min-sung, who suffered a 0-1 shock loss to Japan's U-21 national team in the semifinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup in January, succeeded in avenging his death in more than two months.

However, Japan also played as a U-21 national team in preparation for the LA Olympics two years later, and the starting lineup for against South Korea / vs. Korea on the same day was also made up of Japanese professional football J-League and college students.

Even seven players were called up for the first time under coach Oiwa Ko, rather than the members who won the last Asian Cup.

On the other hand, as many as eight European players, including Lee Young-joon, Lee Hyun-joo (Aroca), Yoon Do-young (Dortrecht), Yang Min-hyuk (Coventry City), and Park Seung-soo (Newcastle United), participated in the match, showing a big difference in the composition of the team from Japan.

Japan's Soccer Digest said, "Japan is composed of U-21 members who will be the generation of the LA Olympics, while South Korea has set up a national team of U-23 players after looking at the Asian Games. "As eight overseas players are included, Japan has become a form of challenging an opponent in a 'sincere mode'," he said.

South Korea took the lead with Lee Young-joon's consecutive goals in the 34th minute of the first half and the 3rd minute of the second half, but rather allowed a comeback goal in the 35th minute of the second half without widening the gap. In addition to this scene, there was also a crisis of losing points, such as an opponent's shot hitting the post.

Lee Min-sung was originally scheduled to conduct off-season training in Turkiye using the A-match period in March, but changed his plan to domestic training in line with the situation in the Middle East. The U.S. and Japanese national teams, whose off-season training in Turkiye has also been canceled, have been invited to play convocation training and closed practice games at Korea Football Park.

While Japan played for the U-21 national team, the U.S. is also said to be a member of the U-22 national team, with some 22-year-old players added, centering on the U-21 national team. In the previous match between the U.S. and Japan, the U.S. won 2-0. While Japan finished its practice game schedule with all two losses, the last practice game between the South Korean U-23 team and the U.S. U-22 team will be held on the 31st.

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*This content was translated by AI.