South Korea Advances to Semifinals in AFC U-23 Asian Cup

South Korea has successfully advanced to the semifinals of the top Asian men’s under-23 football tournament after a narrow victory over Australia in Saudi Arabia. The team secured a 2-1 win in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah on Saturday (local time). Baek Gaon and Shin Min-ha each scored a goal for South Korea, while Luka Jovanovic was the sole scorer for Australia.

In the upcoming semifinals, South Korea will face Japan, who triumphed over Jordan with a 4-2 victory on penalties in the quarterfinals held on Friday. The highly anticipated South Korea-Japan match is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday (local time) at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium, which corresponds to 8:30 p.m. on the same evening in South Korea time.

This marks South Korea’s first appearance in the semifinals of this AFC tournament since they last won the title in 2020. Prior to this, the young Taegeuk Warriors were eliminated in the quarterfinals during both the 2022 and 2024 editions of the competition.

The other semifinal match on Friday will feature Vietnam, coached by South Korean-born tactician Kim Sang-sik, against either China or Uzbekistan.

Under the guidance of coach Lee Min-sung, South Korea struggled throughout the group stage matches and only managed to qualify for the knockout rounds due to favorable circumstances. They lost to Uzbekistan 2-0 in their final Group C match on Tuesday but advanced to the quarterfinals when Lebanon upset Iran 1-0 on the same day.

Lee made several changes to the starting lineup in the Uzbekistan match, including introducing Baek, the team’s youngest player at 19, as a starter for the first time in the tournament.

South Korea faced early challenges, with goalkeeper Hong Seong-min making crucial saves to deny Jed Drew’s long-range effort in the fourth minute. The team eventually took the lead in the 21st minute when Lee Hyun-yong found Baek with a long ball into the box, and Baek volleyed it home with his right foot for a 1-0 advantage — the first time South Korea had scored first in this year’s tournament.

Australia had a chance to equalize in the 38th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Kang Min-jun was called for a handball. However, the decision was overturned by referee Fu Ming following a video review.

Australia managed to level the score in the 51st minute when Jovanovic scored from a difficult angle. Despite missing late opportunities to take the lead, South Korea capitalized on a corner kick in the 89th minute, with Shin heading home Kang Seong-jin’s delivery to secure the victory.

Coach Lee praised his players for their resilience throughout the tournament. He stated, “We wanted to attack the space behind Australia’s defense and have our midfielders press hard, and it all worked out quite well. After our first goal, we tried really hard to protect that lead. But we ended up making too many mistakes on defense. We recovered toward the end and were able to score off a set piece.”

He added, “We’ve been improving along the way, and we will try to perform even better in the semifinals.”

Baek, who turns 20 on Friday, expressed confidence in his team’s ability to regroup after conceding the equalizer. He said, “I thought we’d be able to regain the lead. We’re all happy because we feel like we’ve made up for some poor performances from previous matches.”