South Korean Men’s Under-23 Football Team Defeats United Arab Emirates 2-0 In A Friendly Match
South Korea's football team overpowered the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a friendly match Monday. The test match ended with a final score of 2-0 in favor of the South Korean men's Under-23 football team, according to Yonhap News Agency Tuesday.
South Korea's Lee Yeong Jae and Hwang Hee Chan scored a goal respectively after both teams struggled to score during the first half of the friendly match at Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai.
Although South Korea triumphed at the end of the game, coach Shin Tae Yong said the first half was tough for them.
"We struggled early on with the new match ball, but we were able to convert our chances toward the end," Shin told reporters, as noted by AFC Tuesday. "I am sure the players must be walking away with more confidence. I switched formations on the fly and the players made good adjustments.
The South Korean coach went on, "We can't reveal ourselves too much in these test matches. We will try to test our strategies and formations once again against Saudi Arabia."
The team will be facing Saudi Arabia on Thursday before the upcoming AFC U23 Championship starts on January 12 in Doha.
South Korea joined Uzbekistan, Iraq and Yemen in Group C for the forthcoming AFC tournament.
A total of 16 nations have been divided into four sets for the tournament. The top two teams from each group will proceed to the quarterfinals.
On their first game for the AFC tournament, Shin's team will face Uzbekistan on January 13. They will take on Yemen on January 16 and Iraq on January 19.
Reports have revealed that the South Korea bagged their first-ever Olympic medal in football in 2012 when its football team won bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London.
On the other hand, UAE, which is under group D, will face Jordan on January 17 and Vietnam on January 20.
