The South Korean team is so strong, but it is always "one breath away" in the Asian Cup
In a few days, the Asian Cup will begin.
The South Korean team has announced the 26-man squad for the Asian Cup, with Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, Lee Gang-in, Hwang Hee-chan and other famous players in Europe, and Kim Young-kwon, who is very familiar to Chinese Super League fans, was also successfully selected.
Looking at the roster of the South Korean team, some fans feel that they have a great hope of winning the championship, and some fans feel that it is difficult for them to win the championship.
South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann had this to say:
"It's time, sixty-four years, it's a long time for the Korean team. Now it's all about timing and I believe we're ready for this big challenge and we're one of the favourites to win the title. ”
From the perspective of Chinese fans, the South Korean team is undoubtedly strong and worthy of envy.
But for the South Korean team itself, the Asian Cup is a "heart disease" that has plagued them for many years.
Since 1960, South Korea has not won the Asian Cup for more than 60 years.
The performance of the South Korean men's football team in international competitions such as the World Preliminary Tournament and the World Cup is among the top in Asia.
Their performance in the Asian Cup is not bad, but they are always "off the breath" at crucial moments.
In 1956 and 1960, South Korea won the first and second Asian Cups, respectively.
For more than 60 years, South Korea has remained among the top teams in Asia.
Their Asian Cup results are actually good, from 1964 to 2019 in the 15 Asian Cups, South Korea won the runner-up 4 times and reached the semi-finals 4 times.
The other strong teams in the Asian Cup during this period were:
Japan won the championship 4 times, runner-up 1 time, and semi-finals 1 time;
Iran won the championship 3 times and the semi-finals 6 times;
The Saudi team has won the championship 3 times and finished runner-up 3 times.
The Australian team has participated in the Asian Cup too little, so I will not compare.
It can be said that the rest of the strong teams are switching between the champion, runner-up, and semi-finals, but the Korean team only jumps horizontally between the runner-up and the semi-finals, and no matter how much they jump, they can't reach the championship position.
In the past ten years, the historical record of the Asian Cup is far inferior to that of South Korea's Iraq, Australia and Qatar have all won the championship, but the South Korean team is almost destined for the championship.
I won't go into detail about the history that is too long, just talk about the 6 Asian Cups since entering the 21st century.
The South Korean team missed the championship every time, but they played well every time. There were some moments of exit or loss, which are very regrettable.
In the 2000 Asian Cup, the South Korean team eliminated the strong opponent Iran 2-1 in the quarterfinals with Lee Dong-guk's "Golden Ball".
In the semi-finals, they lost 1-2 to Saudi Arabia and reached the semi-finals.
In the 2004 Asian Cup, after the South Korean team advanced to the quarterfinals by winning the group, they once again encountered a strong opponent Iran. Iran qualified in second place after Japan in the other group.
Iran led three times and South Korea tied three times.
Iran's Karimi scored a hat-trick and beat South Korea to become the first protagonist of that goal shootout.
The South Korean team had no choice but to go out, although it was defeated.
In the 2007 Asian Cup, South Korea finished second in the group, and this time Iran won first place in the other group.
The pair met again in the quarterfinals.
The two sides drew 0-0 after 120 minutes, and South Korea won 4-2 on penalties.
In the semi-finals, South Korea once again had a penalty shootout, but this time they lost because standing opposite them was the magical Iraq...
In the 2011 Asian Cup, the quarterfinals of South Korea vs Iran came as scheduled.
After 90 minutes of scorelessness, South Korea's Yoon Bigaran scored the winning goal in extra time.
Yin Bigalan was only 21 years old at the time, and later he played in Yanbian Fude in the Chinese Super League and impressed Chinese fans.
In the semi-finals, South Korea and Japan staged a thrilling showdown.
1-1 in 90 minutes, 2-2 in 120 minutes, and in the penalty shootout, the Korean team fell short and lost 0-3.
In the 2015 Asian Cup, the South Korean team won three games in the group stage, beating Australia to win the first place in the group.
Notably, South Korea defeated hosts Australia 1-0 in the group stage.
Entering the knockout round, South Korea defeated Uzbekistan in extra time in the quarter-finals (finally without having to play against Iran) and Iraq 2-0 in the semi-finals.
In the final final, the South Korean team once again met the host Australia.
Facing the opponent they had beaten in the group stage, the South Korean team was in a tough battle.
Australia's Longo scored first, and Son Heung-min equalized in the 91st minute.
In extra time, Troisi sealed the win for Australia and walked away with the championship trophy.
In the 2019 Asian Cup, the South Korean team won three games in the group stage and advanced strongly.
In the 1/8 finals, Bahrain was sent away through extra time, and in the 1/4 finals, South Korea lost to Qatar.
Later we learned that the Korean team became the championship backdrop again.
On the road to Qatar's championship, defeating South Korea 1-0 was the smallest advantage.
In the 6 Asian Cups from 2000 to 2019, the South Korean team lost every time it was finally out.
Two of those losses came on penalties, one in extra-time and three in regulation time.
In 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, the Korean team fell at the feet of the champion four times in a row.
I don't know if this law will be fulfilled again in the upcoming Asian Cup.
Is the Korean team really worse than the Japanese team?
Although the South Korean team has not won the Asian Cup for more than 60 years, few people should doubt their strength.
They have repeatedly suffered setbacks in the Asian Cup, which is indeed quite "metaphysical".
Comparing their close neighbor Japan, South Korea has performed similarly to Japan in other arenas.
Only here in the Asian Cup, the Japanese team has won the championship four times since 1992, but the South Korean team has countless grains.
Some people may say that if you can't win the championship, it's a dish, and the Japanese team is better than the Korean team!
Objectively speaking, the presence of Japanese football in recent years is indeed stronger than that of the South Korean team, but a careful comparison of the other results of the two teams is really not much worse.
Let's take the 6 World Cups of the 21st century as an example -
Japan and South Korea have participated in all six World Cups held in the 21st century, and only these two teams in the entire AFC have done so.
In the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, Japan qualified from the group, and South Korea also qualified from the group, so I won't talk about other things.
In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Japan was eliminated from the group, and South Korea was also eliminated from the group, and South Korea scored 3 points more than Japan.
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Japan and South Korea both reached the round of 16 and lost to Paraguay and Uruguay respectively.
In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Japan and South Korea were all out of the group, and they were both at the bottom of the group.
In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Japan reached the round of 16, and South Korea was eliminated from the group.
Japan's 3-2 defeat to Belgium was spectacular, and South Korea's 2-0 win over Germany was great.
In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Japan and South Korea both reached the round of 16.
Japan won against Germany, and South Korea said I won four years ago.
Japan won against Spain, South Korea said I won against Portugal, and we were about the same!
Japan and South Korea, although they faced strong teams such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia in Asian competitions, did not show a crushing trend.
But their performance in the World Cup is indeed much better than other Asian teams.
In the last 6 World Cups, the Japanese team only had the results of the 2018 World Cup, which is really better than South Korea.
In the rest of the World Cup, Japan and South Korea are like a pair of brothers with mirror development, almost advancing and retreating together.
So why is it that in the Asian Cup, the championship life of the two teams is so much different?
From the perspective of the lineup, the South Korean team must be more confident this time than the previous Asian Cups.
In the past many years, the quality of Japanese and South Korean stars has not been significantly superior to teams such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. In the past, Australia had a strong lineup enough to sweep Asia.
But in recent years, the Japanese and South Korean lineups have stood out from the Asian side.
Japan's advantage lies in the depth of the squad, and there are a lot of people available, otherwise there would not always be fans arguing "Is Japan sending a team"?
Perhaps for the Japanese team, 11 people from the best thirty or forty people are selected to come out of the "first team". The difference between who plays the main force and who plays the substitute is not very big.
Unlike Japan, South Korea don't have as many players in Europe, but they have some of the best players in Asia.
Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae went one after the other, and when they said that playing in the Asian Cup is playing in the World Cup, these two are also absolute strengths.
In addition, players such as Huang Xican, Li Gangren, and Zheng Youying have also performed well in the five major leagues.
In terms of the strength of the main lineup, the South Korean team is not necessarily worse than Japan.
As long as the core players try not to suffer injuries, South Korea's squad is more than enough to beat any Asian opponent.
As for the lineups of the other teams, it is difficult to compare with these two teams.
Of course, football is never just about winning or losing by the strength of the lineup.
Although other strong teams in Asia are not as good as Japan and South Korea in the World Cup, they still have a way to face Japan and South Korea directly.
Maybe in this Asian Cup, there will be a team like Iraq in 2007 and Qatar in 2019, which will be like a bamboo and win the championship in an upset.
South Korea is in the same group as Malaysia, Jordan and Bahrain this time.
There will certainly be no problem in qualifying from the group, and the real test will be in the knockout stages.
Jurgen Klinsmann has already said he wants to meet Japan in the final, and he may also want to avenge Germany.
Do you think he'll get his wish?