Under-20 (U-20) national team coach Kim Eun-joong (44) set the goal of winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-20 Asian Cup, which will be held in Uzbekistan in March.
Coach Kim Eun-joong said in an interview prior to the start of convocation training at Ulsan Sports Complex on the 14th, “Our country has not won this competition since 2012, but the first goal is to win.” I will prepare well to compete.”
Korea, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, will participate in the AFC U-20 Asian Cup held in Uzbekistan from March 1st.
Korea, which is placed in Group C along with Oman, Jordan and Tajikistan, must finish in the top 4 to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which opens in Indonesia in May.
The U-20 World Cup is a tournament in which Korea won the runner-up in the previous tournament in 2019, so fans have high expectations.
However, there is a high possibility that Korea will meet Saudi Arabia or Japan, who are expected to come up from Group D in the quarterfinals of the U-20 Asian Cup, so it is not guaranteed to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Korean U-20 national team, led by coach Kim Eun-joong, completed training in Spain from the end of January to the 11th, and from that day onwards, the last convocation training will be held in Ulsan.
Coach Kim said, “In the field training in Spain, we focused on physical strength.” “As we have an important competition ahead, we will prepare well until the end of the remaining period and participate in the competition in good shape.”
Regarding the fact that the Asian Cup, which corresponds to the regional qualifier, is held in March and the World Cup, which is the final round, is closely spaced in May, he said, “I will focus on the Asian Cup first rather than worrying about the World Cup.” We are preparing for it from now on.”
Coach Kim, who has set about 80% of the player composition, said, “There is still a lack of physical strength, but if you use the remaining period well, your physical strength will rise to 100%.” Because they are young players, there may be a situation where the game is shaken, but we will focus on stabilizing the defense to end such a crisis in a short time.”
He also said, “Confidence is as important as young players.”
However, coach Kim said, “In a way, that can be a stronger strength,” and expected, “Since several people have the potential to become (aces), when the tournament starts, our team’s ace will emerge.”
Lee Kang-in at the time of the 2019 U-20 World Cup runner-up,
In this tournament, Kang Seong-jin (FC Seoul) and Kim Yong-hak (Portugal Portimonense), who were interviewed following coach Kim, are pointed out as key players. 안전놀이터
Coach Kim Eun-joong, who was a member of the 1998 AFC U-20 Asian Cup winning team, said, “Our color is fast offense and defense-oriented football,” and pledged, “With the goal of winning the Asian Cup, we will improve our performance to go to the World Cup.” did.
