South Korea reached the quarterfinals of the top Asian men's under-23 football tournament despite a loss in their final group stage match in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Coached by Lee Min-sung, South Korea lost to Uzbekistan 2-0 to close out Group C play at the Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium in Riyadh.
Behruzjon Karimov had the match's first goal in the 48th minute and Saidumarkhon Saidnurullaev doubled Uzbekistan's lead in the 70th minute. South Korea held a substantial edge in ball possession but managed just one shot on target, compared to four by Uzbekistan.
South Korea finished second in the group with four points from one win, one draw and one loss, while Uzbekistan won the group with seven points on two wins and a draw.
South Korea opened the tournament with a goalless draw against Iran last Wednesday and then defeated Lebanon 4-2 three days later.
Moments after losing to Uzbekistan, South Korea caught a break when Lebanon, already eliminated following two straight losses, upset Iran 1-0 in their Group C finale. Had Iran won that match, they would have grabbed the second seed in the group with five points and South Korea would have been sent home.
As the runner-up in Group C, South Korea will face the Group D winner in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, or 12:30 a.m. Sunday in South Korean time. The Group D teams are China, Australia, Iraq and Thailand, with China sitting in first place at the moment with four points. They will wrap up their group stage action Wednesday.
This is the seventh edition of the U-23 Asian Cup and South Korea's lone title came in 2020. (Yonhap)
