I hesitate slightly in posting this as this goes against what I said in not putting too much on 16 year old Lee Seung-Woo, but his goal against Thailand yesterday was just too damn good.
ICYMI Lee Seung-woo and Jang Gyeol-hee combining beautifully to open the scoring against Thailand. http://t.co/2wpdTe2t1O
— Jae (@ArmchairRegista) September 11, 2014
Before you proceed further, if you haven’t seen Jae’s recent post on his observations seeing the Taeguk Warriors in the flesh last Monday, take a look here.
Back to Lee’s goal – which was in the waning minutes before the half in the last group stage match for Korea in the U16 AFC Championship on Wednesday. On the goal, he and Barcelona academy teammate Jang Gyeol-Hee were ‘giving and going’ up the pitch in their buildup. For an instant, I cringed as it looked like Jang sent his last pass to Lee in too much traffic. No matter as Lee pulled off quite the feat to put Korea on the scoresheet. It was Lee’s 2nd in the tournament, the other coming in the 1-0 win over Malaysia.
2nd half Hwang Tae-Hyeon somehow marched right up to the goalline – his shot put Korea ahead 2-0 -where the scoreline would remain at FT.
With Korea taking all 9 points from their group matches, they win Group A and set themselves up for quarterfinal date on Sunday with regional rival Japan.
>>Tim rudely barging in – sorry Roy – but felt like I should share what Lee Seung-Woo said in a post-game interview about playing Japan. My Korean translation is iffy, but he basically said (very smugly), “I feel that if we execute our game plan, then we should easily beat Japan.” It’s all about the attitude. Anyway, back to Roy.
KOREA v JAPAN Sunday September 14 at 4:30 AM EST / 5:30 PM Korea Time
Football… some matches are bloody early. Bloody hell.
While Japan beat Hong Kong and China, they lost 2-4 to Australia in their last group match and end as Group B runner ups.
Meanwhile, North Korea is still in it, advancing in 2nd place in Group C and setting up their Sunday showdown with Iran.
Should the Taeguk Warriors move past Japan, they would face either Uzbekistan (Group C winner) or Syria (Group D runner up). That semifinal date is set for September 17th. The title match will be on September 20.
The top 4 teams in this tournament will qualify for the U17 World Cup next year.
Jinseok – Takeuchi – anyone else that follows the youth system better than I – should we be beating Japan or are we on par with them?
Lee Seung Woo is getting all the headline and deservedly so, however, player I’m looking forward to most is Paik Seung Ho’s & his development. I think he’s going to be a key cog for KNT. From games I have watched, he has exceptional touch & technical ability…. and he will be eventual heir to Ki imo. KNT need another player who can control the tempo & organize the offense. He currently lacks physicality but he has other attributes (such as pace) that Ki does not have & might even be better in the future (at least that’s my hope).