Missing the European team and having an injury nightmare… The predicted cancellation of the Hwang Seon-hong Olympics

‘Shin Tae-yong Magic’ defeated by Indonesia… Canceled for the 10th consecutive Olympics, failed to be selected for Europe, including Bae Jun-ho, and suffered injuries to Myung-gwan and others. They passed the group stage in first place, but their performance was unstable.

Hwang Seon-ho, who had a shaky start due to all kinds of bad news, was caught by Shin Tae-yong of Indonesia, the ‘storm team’ on the way to Paris, and was unable to advance to the finals of the Olympics for the 10th consecutive time.

The Korean national under-23 (U-23) soccer team, led by coach Hwang Seon-hong, defeated Indonesia in the ‘2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup quarterfinals’ held at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar on the 26th (Korean time). After drawing 2-2 in overtime, they lost 10-11 in a penalty shootout and were eliminated.

Korean soccer, which holds the world record for the most consecutive Olympic appearances (9), aimed to advance to the Olympics for the 10th consecutive time through this tournament, starting with the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but was frustrated by being eliminated in the quarterfinals.

It is the first time in 40 years since the 1984 Games that Korean soccer has failed to advance to the Olympic finals.

This U-23 Asian Cup also served as the final men’s soccer qualifier for the Paris Olympics, which opens in July this year.

Those who placed in third place were given a direct ticket to the Olympic finals, and those who ranked fourth were able to play an intercontinental playoff with Guinea, the fourth-place team in the African regional qualifiers, to determine whether they would advance to the finals.

However, as they failed to advance beyond the quarterfinals, they were unable to advance to the Olympic finals.

Hwang Seon-hong was anxious from the start. The A team, which was looking for a new coach after the dismissal of former coach Jurgen Klinsmann, suffered a setback in its preparations for the Olympic qualifiers as coach Hwang Sun-hong was appointed as the temporary head coach.

Without coach Hwang, they won the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship held last month as a prelude to this tournament, but the plan was disrupted as the final rehearsal was held without the head coach.

The failure to select a European team just before the tournament was also a huge blow.

Hwang Seon-hong included Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City), Yang Hyun-jun (Celtic), Kim Ji-su (Brentford), Kim Min-woo (Dusseldorf), and Sang-bin Jeong (Minnesota) in the final 23-member roster for the Olympic qualifiers, but striker Yang Hyun-jun, midfielder Bae Jun-ho, and defender Jisoo Kim was unable to join due to opposition to being selected by her team.

There were difficulties in recruiting until the departure of the training camp in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 5th of this month, and ultimately all negotiations failed.

In the case of Bae Jun-ho, who is competing to remain in the English Championship (second division), it was expected that it would be difficult to be called up, but as Yang Hyun-jun, who plays as a substitute for Celtic, and Kim Ji-soo, who mainly plays for the Brentford B team, failed to join, a weakening of power was inevitable.

Striker Jeong Sang-bin, who was active on the U.S. stage, only joined the team a day before the first game of the group stage, so there was not enough time to get acquainted. Only European midfielder Kim Min-woo joined the team from training camp.

Bad news about injuries also struck. Hwang Seon-hong’s main striker, Ahn Jae-jun (Bucheon), started as a starter in the first game against UAE, but injured his hamstring (muscle behind the thigh) and was replaced after playing only 45 minutes in the first half, and did not play until the quarterfinals against Indonesia.

Afterwards, he focused on recovery separately with the trainer at the training ground, but it was difficult to get back to normal condition.

In addition, Seo Myeong-gwan (Bucheon), who played as the starting center back along with captain Byun Jun-su (Gwangju), suffered a hamstring injury in the second match against China and will not be able to play in the remaining tournament due to the failure of Kim Ji-soo of the European team to be selected.

In the third game against Japan, midfielder Lee Kang-hee (Gyeongnam) was sent to the back and the team overcame the crisis with a three-back strategy, but after returning to the four-back, Seo Myung-gwan left, creating further cracks in the unstable defense.

Despite all the negative factors, concerns seemed to be dispelled as they passed the group stage in first place with three wins and no losses in all matches, but as their unstable performance became more noticeable in the match against Indonesia, their goal of advancing to the Olympics for the 10th time in a row was shattered.

[도하(카타르)=뉴시스]