Korea beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 to reach final in WAFF U-23 Championship debut

Football

Published: 24 Mar. 2024, 16:32 Updated: 24 Mar. 2024, 17:59

Korea beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 to reach final in WAFF U-23 Championship debut

Korea's Eom Ji-sung, center, celebrates scoring a goal during a West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship semifinal against Saudi Arabia at Al Fateh Stadium, Al Mubarraz in Saudi Arabia in a photo shared on the WAFF's official Instagram account on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Forward Eom Ji-sung scored a crucial goal to lead the U-23 Korean national team to a 1-0 victory over hosts Saudi Arabia in the semifinals of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship on Saturday.

The WAFF Championship is a tournament in which four teams from West Asia and four invitees compete.

Having joined this year’s WAFF Championship as one of the four invited teams, Korea has now reached the final in its first appearance at the tournament.

Alongside Eom, Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City also displayed a convincing performance, leading the team’s attack with dribbles and effective passes.

Korea will now face another invitee, Australia, in the final on Tuesday.

The U-23 team’s victory came even without manager Hwang Sun-hong, who has been absent since the group stage started on Wednesday due to his senior team interim manager duty.

Hwang has been with the senior squad since last month, drawing 1-1 with Thailand in a 2026 World Cup qualifier on Thursday last week.

He is expected to return to the U-23 squad after the away leg against Thailand on Tuesday, as the KFA said last month that a new permanent manager should take the helm in May.

Once Hwang returns to the U-23 team after Tuesday’s match, he will immediately have to prepare for the upcoming AFC U-23 Asian Cup that begins on April 15, where Korea has to finish in the top three to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics that start in July.

The upcoming Olympics will perhaps be a bigger challenge for Hwang after the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, where the U-23 team won a gold medal.

This year’s Olympics is a chance for Hwang to redeem Korea’s recent failure at the Olympics, where they finished in fifth place at both the 2016 and 2020 Games.

A bronze medal in 2012 remains Korea’s best finish in Olympic history.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]