By Pearse McLaughlin
South Korea ran out 2-1 winners over arch-rivals Japan in the final of the Asian Games 2022 here at the Hangzhou Dragon Stadium, China. South Korea have now won Gold and that means an awful lot to the players as they’re now exempt from mandatory military service.
Japan have gotten off to a flyer here as Kotaro Uchino has opened the scoring after only 80 seconds gone on the clock. Kotaro Uchino showed brilliant composure after a couple of ricochets inside the box, he took a touch before curling the ball into the top right-hand corner. An emphatic finish. 1-0 Japan. What a start to this mammoth game!
Equalizer and it’s South Korea’s man in form Jeong Woo-Yeong who has equalized on the 27th minute. It was a delicious ball floated to the back post by Lee Tae-Seok where Manato Yoshida misjudges the flight of the ball and Jeong Woo-Yeong makes no mistake and bullets a header into the top left-hand corner. Unbelievable header. 1-1 game on.
Japan got off to the perfect start in the final after scoring after only 2 minutes but since then they’ve become very deep and happy to sit in deep and protect their lead. South Korea have controlled large amounts of the first half and thoroughly deserved their equalizer. The second half is set for a grand slam finish to this final as either side don’t want to lose to their greatest rivals.
Perfect start to the second half for South Korea as they have taken the lead on the 57th minute courtesy of Cho Young-Wook who has scored inside the six-yard-box to give South Korea the lead for the first time in this final. It was great driving run from Lee Tae-Seok as he drove about 30/40 yard’s before picking out Jeong Woo-Yeong who looked to be fouled inside the box by Manato Yoshida, but the ball fell to Cho Young-Wook who didn’t wait for a decision and coolly slotted the ball underneath the onrushing Kazuki Fujita. Great composure by Cho Young-Wook. South Korea leads 2-1. Japan will now need to come out and try and get back into this match before it’s too late.
On the 81st minute Eom Won-Sang shows brilliant pace and determination to spring back to his feet following a last-ditch tackle on him by Taichi Yamasaki and it had to be timed to perfection otherwise he would have seen red as he was the last man. Eom Won-Sang cut inside from the right and nearly picked out the top left-hand corner if it wasn’t for a wonder save by Kazuki Fujita it would have surely put South Korea out of sight. Kazuki Fujita’s save keeps Japan still in with a fighting chance of getting something from the game. Set for a dramatic final 10 minutes plus stoppage time.
Into the third minute of stoppage time and An Jae-Jun was 1-on-1 following a quick counterattack and had the chance to kill off the game once and for all but for another magnificent stop by Kazuki Fujita to deny An Jae-Jun at the near post. Kazuki Fujita certainly had a fine game and wouldn’t be surprised if he had many suitors after the final. It remains 2-1.
It’s all over here at Hangzhou Dragon Stadium in China as South Korea emerges victorious over their greatest rivals Japan 2-1. This is a monumental victory as this now means all the South Korea U23 squad are now exempt from mandatory military service after winning the gold medal here at the 2022 Asian Games.
South Korea U23: Lee Gwang-Yeon, Lee Tae-Seok, Park Jin-Seob, Lee Han-Beom, Park Kyu-Hyun, Paik Seung-Ho, Jeong Woo-Yeong (Hong Hyun-Seok 62’), Goh Young-Jun (Song Min-Kyu 62’), Cho Young-Wook (Eom Won-Sang 72’), Jeong Ho-Yeon, Lee Kang-In (An Jae-Jun 72’). Subs not used: Min Seong-Jun, Kim Jung-Hoon, Choi Jun, Lee Jae-Ik, Kim Tae-Hyeon, Seol Yeong-Woo, Park Jae-Yong.
Japan U23: Kazuki Fujita, Hayato Okuda (Yota Komi 78’), Manato Yoshida (Sekine Hiroki 62’), Taichi Yamasaki, Seiya Baba, Daiki Matsuoka, Masato Shigemi (Teppei Yachida 68’), Jun Nishikawa (Shota Hino 78’), Yuta Matsumura, Kein Sato, Kotaro Uchino (Shun Ayukawa 62’). Subs not used: Kakeru Yamauchi, Koshiro Sumi, Yuma Obata, Kenta Nemoto, Ibuki Konno.
Reporter: Pearse McLaughlin
Referee: Mahfoodh Ammar Ebrahim
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