South Korea's U-23 national team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, will play the first Group B match of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 0:30 a.m. on the 17th (Korea Standard Time) at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

The upcoming event will also serve as a preliminary match for the Asian region for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The first to third-place finishers in the event will advance to the Olympics finals, and the fourth-place finisher will have a playoff with Guinea, which is ranked fourth in the African region. Korea is set to become the first country to advance to the Olympics finals for 10 consecutive times.

The journey to Paris is not easy. Korea will face off against China and Japan one after the other, starting with the UAE in the group league. In addition, Korea also had difficulties in recruiting players for the European leagues. Yang Hyun-joon (Celtic), Kim Ji-soo (Brentford), and Bae Joon-ho (Stock City) all failed to join the team, causing disruptions in their plans.

"All the teams in our group are strong," Hwang said in an official press conference ahead of the match, nodding his head, "I admit that they are the group of death." "The first game is important," he stressed. "I will move every game into a team," he added. "I will do my best throughout the tournament."

Regarding the frustration of the European team's recruitment, he said, "I went to Europe before the competition to negotiate the recruitment, but unfortunately I couldn't join," adding, "It's frustrating and unfortunate, but there are many plans, so there's no problem."

Coach Hwang said, "I hope that the players will become a team and an organized team through the group league," adding, "I expect our players who play in the K League to show their strengths and abilities during the tournament."

The UAE, Korea's first opponent, is considered a dark horse. Players who are already active in the A team are already in the team. Notably, striker Sultan Adil Almiy has had five goals in 10 A matches.

Coach Marcelo Brolley of Uruguay, the head coach of the UAE, led Uruguay's U-20 team to the top of the FIFA U-20 World Cup last year. In March last year, he led Uruguay's A team in a friendly match with South Korea as an interim coach, and won 2-1.

Coach Brawley also expressed confidence, saying, "I had the experience of facing South Korea when I was in Uruguay," adding, "I know the team."

BY: 스포츠토토