Coach for men's Asian Games football team eyes gold despite recent struggles

Seoul, September 1 (Yonhap) - South Korea's head coach for the upcoming Asian Games men's football team, Lee Min-sung, pledged to secure the nation's fourth consecutive gold medal, despite the squad's recent challenges. The coach will lead South Korea's under-23 national team in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which begins later this month.

Four members of the FIFA World Cup squad from the summer have joined Lee's team. Although the journey has not been smooth, Lee believes that experience will aid the team in the long run. Lee addressed the squad's weaknesses and expressed confidence in winning the gold medal. The current under-23 generation's expectations are relatively low, as South Korea did not dominate the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup in January, which is considered a crucial prelude to the Asian Games.

They narrowly beat Iran, Lebanon, and Uzbekistan before losing to Japan, a team mostly composed of under-21 players, 1-0 in the semifinals. Lee emphasized that the poor performances in the Asian Cup were part of the learning process. South Korea will face Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the group stage. The top two teams from each of the four groups, and one group of three, will advance to the quarterfinals.

Group D, which South Korea belongs to, has only two teams. Lee urged the team to focus on their own performance rather than worrying about their opponents. For the Tuesday training session, 14 of Lee's 23 players, all from the domestic K League, were available. Players from Europe, including Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City and Kim Ji-soo of Brentford, will join the national team in Japan.