‘Jungwon master’ Baek Seung-ho to challenge AG for third straight title with ‘Hwang Sun-hong-ho’ spearheading…Kuwait, wait!

Korean soccer will take the first step toward a third straight Asian Games title.

The Hwang Sun-hong-led U-24 national soccer team will open Group E play at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games against Kuwait at 8:30 p.m. (ET) today at Jinhua Stadium in Zhejiang, China. Although the official opening day of the Games is on the 23rd, the men’s soccer team will play first as they have a packed schedule from the group stage to the tournament (round of 16 to the final). Hwang Sun-hongho, who arrived in the country on the 16th, will open the tournament with a second group match against Thailand on the 21st.
Korea will be looking for a third consecutive Asian Games title, following Incheon in 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang in 2018. Chinese Taipei, Myanmar and Iran have won back-to-back titles with Korea, but none have won three in a row.바카라사이트

The team has built a top-notch jinyong to make history. Song Min-kyu, Park Jin-seop (Jeonbuk Hyundai), Uhm Won-sang, Seol Young-woo (Ulsan Hyundai), Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon Commerce), Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart), Lee Han-beom (Mittwilan), Park Kyu-hyun (Dynamo Dresden) and Hong Hyun-seok (Gent) are all in the mix, with Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain-PSG) joining them immediately after the team’s home first leg of the group stage of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League (UCL) against Dortmund (Germany) on Tuesday. Physically, games one and two will be difficult, and they are expected to start playing against Bahrain on the 24th.

The Asian Games are never easy. At the last edition five years ago, we had a close call, losing 1-2 in our second group game against Malaysia. In the quarterfinals, they had to go to extra time against Uzbekistan before narrowly winning 4-3.
With so many variables at play, the burden is on the shoulders of captain Baek Seung-ho (26-North), who has plenty of international experience, including last year’s World Cup in Qatar. As a third-string midfielder, he will have to coordinate the ball and defense in the middle and provide leadership to ensure that the younger players don’t get carried away. It’s a lot of pressure.

But it’s a very special tournament for me personally. For Baek, who was called up by Hwang as a wild card (a player over the age limit), the Hangzhou Asian Games is a “second chance”. He suffered a hamstring injury in the build-up to Jakarta-Palembang that forced him to withdraw. “I didn’t know if I would get another chance, but it came out of nowhere, and I’m determined to deliver results,” he said.

Of course, there’s no reason to be impatient. A cautious approach and a win over Kuwait will boost both confidence and mood. Baek Seung-ho emphasized defense, believing that a tight back door will bring them closer to the title. “We need to reduce our goals. If we concede a goal first, we become impatient and the game goes wrong. We can’t be perfect from the first game, but we will gradually improve and win the gold medal,” said the captain.