Italy legend Cannavaro, Uzbekistan coach, after loss to Korea: "We created many chances, but the Korean goalkeeper made great saves" [Yongin on-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

Fabio Cannavaro, an "Italian football legend" leading the Uzbekistan national football team, expressed satisfaction with his team's performance despite the loss to Korea.

After losing 0-2 to Korea in a friendly match held at Yongin Mireu Stadium on the 6th, Coach Cannavaro said in a press conference, "We played a very good game today. The result is disappointing, but I told the players that their performance and gameplay were excellent."

Although Uzbekistan's FIFA ranking of 60th is significantly lower than Korea's (32nd), Uzbekistan consistently penetrated the space behind Korea's defense throughout the match to create opportunities. However, they failed to convert these into goals, with many attempts blocked by saves from Cho Hyeon-woo (Ulsan HD).

Coach Cannavaro stated, "I instructed the players to control the game as much as possible and cause many problems for the Korean team. Of course, I thought it would not be easy because Korea is a good team," while adding, "I don't know the exact figures, but we created quite a lot of chances in both halves. However, small mistakes against a strong team made the difference."

Coach Cannavaro continued, "I told the players to play with confidence. I knew it would not be easy, but I still told them to aim for victory and go home with it. To do that, our performance had to be perfect; we needed to possess the ball aggressively and intensely to force the opponent into a defensive posture."

He added, "Ultimately, we achieved that aspect. We created many chances. I think Korea had about two shots on target. Conversely, in the chances we created, the Korean goalkeeper (Cho Hyeon-woo) made good saves, preventing us from scoring. This is football. We must accept it. Our goal is to find ways to develop our team while showing a good performance."

Meanwhile, Korea, led by interim coach Roberto Moreno (Spain), crushed Uzbekistan 2-0 with an early free-kick goal by Son Heung-min (LAFC) and an additional header goal by Oh Se-hoon (Shimizu S-Pulse). Son Heung-min scored his 59th career international goal, surpassing former coach Cha Bum-keun to set a new record for the most goals in international matches. The Moreno squad finished the four-match international series in September and October with a record of two wins, one draw, and one loss.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.