Please End the “Quarterfinals Curse”

Will the young Taegeuk Warriors be able to overcome the “quarterfinals curse” that has consistently been afflicting Korean soccer this year?

The Korean youth national soccer team led by Park Sung-hwa will fight Uzbekistan at 10:00 p.m. October 3 at Cheras Stadium in Kuala Lumpur for the AFC Youth (U-20) Championship semifinal ticket. This quarterfinal match is an obstacle the team must overcome in order to achieve the goal of winning the championship for two consecutive years and becoming the champions for the 11th time. This game is also important in raising the stagnated morale of Korean soccer.

This year, the Korean soccer teams have all been suffering from the “quarterfinals curse,” meaning they have failed to go beyond the quarterfinals in every international competition. The Korean national soccer team led by Johannes Bonfrere lost to Iran 3-4 at the Asian Cup quarterfinals in August. Also, the Olympic team lost to Paraguay 2-3 at the 2004 Athens Olympics quarterfinals, and the U-17 team lost to North Korea 0-1 at the AFC U-17 Championship.

The only hope left now is the U-20 national team. Park Sung-hwa’s team must overcome the Uzbekistan team, which was the winner of Group C with eight goals, the highest goal count in the group leagues. The Uzbeks, whose power has risen suddenly recently, is a team with good physical conditions and are well organized in the mid-field.

The Korean team is putting its hopes on the power of the “two-top,” Park Ju-young (19, Korea University) and Kim Seung-yong (19, FC Seoul), who scored three goals combined in this championship. In addition, defensive players such as Kim Jin-gyu (19, Jeonnnam Dragons) and Ahn Tae-eun (19, Chosun University) who missed the last game due to the accumulation of penalties, are expected to play again.

Park Sung-hwa, who had said before the championship that “the team organization is unstable because the training period was too short,” is now showing confidence, and saying “there is a chance.”

Soon-Il Kwon stt77@donga.com