Future Taeguk Warriors beat Japan 3-1 U-16 AFC group stage + Tuesday Koreans in Europe

September 25, 2012

So it’s just a U-16 game you might say. Except that it’s South Korea v Japan and a Haniljeon is a Haniljeon. I have to admit, this U-16 AFC Championship in Tehran was completely off my radar, and I would’ve completely missed it were it not for a Baek Ho tweet. The Taeguk Warrior mascot tossed this up on Sunday:

Translated: South Korea beat North Korea 3-0 in their first match for Group C and the tournament is underway. Right -so Tavern is getting caught up to date.  Hwang Hee-Chan seems to be a scoring machine, getting the hat trick with our neighbors to the north.  Placed together with Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Japan, group stage in this tournament meant Haniljeon-time this morning (like 5:30 EST early. ugh).

This morning’s result: South Korea 3 – Japan 1.  First half South Korea came out swinging: 13 minutes in, Hwang Hee-Chan swept the ball into the net after a series of lighting fast tiki-taka-esque passes.  However it wasn’t long before Hiroki Ogawa knocked in the equalizer.  After some rough patches shown by both sides, Korea settled things down and took control midway through the half.  They displayed a good bit of offensive swagger, culminating in a 42nd minute super-fine Hwang In-Beom pass that found Choi Ju-Yong up front. He blasted it past Nagasawa Yuya and South Korea led 2-1 at the half.

Tale of 2 halves however; Japan got into gear and dominanted throughout the latter half. They were winning the ball and constantly threatening with crisp precise passing. The Taeguk Warriors scrambled in a less than graceful defense with the lead looking tenuous at times. Ogawa was able to find enormous space -getting some good shots away and hit the post twice. Near the corner, Mizutami Takuma deftly got around a Korean defender to get a dangerous shot on goal. Korean goalkeeper Kim Hyoung-Jung came up with some huge saves, particularly in the 65 minute when Kim blocked Mizutani’s shot, and got the double save a moment later when Yuki Aizu tried to head in the rebound. The Taeguk Warriors showed real difficulty putting together enough successful passes to construct any meaningful offense -swagger gone.  As the game was about to wind up in stoppage time, Korea was awarded a free kick about 25 yards out.  Hwang was set to take the set piece when Ko Min-Hyeok surprised Japan by taking the shot instead. It curled in past the outstretched arms of Yuya and wrapped up the game 3-1.  Here’s the group standings right now (Saudi Arabia and North Korea are playing as I write this).

Group C

Teams
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
+/-
PTS
KOREA REPUBLIC 2 2 0 0 6 1 5 6
JAPAN 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3
SAUDI ARABIA 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0
DPR KOREA 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0
Next game: Thursday last group match with v Saudi Arabia. Update Sept 26 the KFA provided this youtube highlights of the game several hours ago:

On to Europe -Koreans are expected to see some midweek action today:

Ji Dong-Won is waiting to see his first minutes of the season for Sunderland today. They face off against MK Dons in Carling Cup match scheduled at 2:45pm EST.
Ki Sung-Yeung, coming off his first start for Swansea last saturday, may also get minutes, its a Carling Cup match up, Swansea v Crawley Town at 2:45pm.
Cha Du Ri got his first 20 minutes last weekend for his new Bundesliga club Fortuna Dusseldorf.  His side faces Greuther Fuerth today at 2pm.
on Wednesday, Son Heung Min, Park Joo Ho and Park Ji Sung are expected to start for their respective clubs. We’ll have some more on that tomorrow.  The Tavern’s official car is breaking down, so we must part ways. Hanjileon win = a damn fine day!  Peace.
About Roy Ghim 454 Articles
The old Tavern Owner

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