The Olympic team successfully advanced to the finals by beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the semifinals of the 2024 Western Asian Football Confederation WAFF Under-23 Championship held at Al Fatech Stadium in Al Hupuf, Saudi Arabia, on the morning of the 24th Korea Standard Time.
Korea will now face Australia for the title at the same venue at 5 a.m. on the 27th. Australia advanced to the semifinals after beating Egypt in a penalty shootout.
A total of eight Olympic teams from Korea, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Australia, Thailand, and Egypt are participating in the event, which kicked off on the 18th. South Korea, Australia, and Egypt participated as invited teams. Eight teams will immediately advance to the quarterfinals and play three games each to determine the ranking.
The Korean Olympic team participated in this year's event without taking the helm. Hwang Sun-hong took over as interim coach of the Korean national team, which had been vacant due to Jurgen Klinsmann's replacement. Hwang is conducting two consecutive games against Thailand for the second Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-Central America World Cup, which will be held during the A-match period in March. Instead, the team is being led by senior coach Myung Jae-yong.
Korea made big changes to its roster on the day. Compared to the last match against Thailand, nine players have changed except for Kim Min-woo Dusseldorf and Seo Myeong-gwan Bucheon. The intention was to test all players as much as possible as the final qualifying round for the upcoming Olympics will be held in April.
Ahn Jae-joon Bucheon played the forward line, while Um Ji-sung Gwangju, Bae Joon-ho Stoke City, and Hong Si-hoo Incheon formed the second line. Kim Min-woo and Baek Sang-hoon Seoul followed, while Lee Tae-seok Seoul, Byun Jun-su Gwangju, Seo Myeong-gwan, and Jang Si-young Ulsan formed the defense line. Baek Jong-beom Seoul defended the goal.
Korea pushed back from the beginning. He targeted the Saudi goalie by using Hong Si-hoo and Um Ji-sung. Hong used his hind legs to shoot, but managed to contain regret by hitting a side net in the 23rd minute of the first half.
Um Ji-sung came forward as a troubleshooter. In the 41st minute, Saudi Arabia's defense failed to properly clear out Korea's long pass. Bae Jun-ho rushed in quickly to win the ball that flowed, and gave it to the left accurately. After being given a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper, Um Ji-sung hit the net with an accurate right-footed shot.
Team Korea defended its victory by blocking Saudi Arabia's offensives in the second half. Starting with Lee Jae-wook Ulsan, senior coach Myung Jae-yong also deployed Yang Hyun-joon Celtic, Kang Hyun-mook Gimcheon, Lee Kang-hee Gyeongnam, and Hwang Jae-won Daegu in order to check the players.
South Korea, which finished the game without losing a point, caught Saudi Arabia 1-0 following Thailand in its first game, brightening its prospects for participating in the Paris Olympics in July. 스포츠토토
Korea, which aims to advance to the Olympics for the 10th consecutive time, will decide whether it will advance to the Paris Olympics through the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup to be held in Qatar next month. A top-ranked Korean team will advance directly to the Olympics finals, and a fourth-ranked team will have to undergo an intercontinental playoff with Guinea. Korea will face the UAE, China and Japan in the group league.