2008.2.26 Tue
East Asian Football Championship Finals 2008 Summary
※Click on the picture for a bigger image.
Korea Rep claimed their second title for the first time in 2 tournaments following three days of matches on February 17th, 20th and 23rd in the East Asian Football Championship Finals 2008. Below we recap the exciting matches from the tournament.
The strong Korea Rep team took the honors from reigning champions and hosts, China PR, to claim an important win. In the 43rd minute Korea Rep took the lead but in the second half China PR scored two goals to reverse the score line through ZHOU Haibin and LIU Jian. However Korea Rep’s PARK Chu Young scored his second of the day from a free kick, before KWAK Tae Hwi scored the decider in extra time for an amazing 3-2 win. Before the tournament coach HUH Jung Moo had said about his young players “We will play in the East Asian Championship with our 2nd team. We hope the players will grow as a result of these games” and this result obviously will have given them a lot of confidence. The stars of the Korea Rep team included tournament MVP veteran MF KIM Nam Il who was a constant presence in mid-field. 24 year old YEOM Ki Hun scored against DPR Korea and then again in the next match versus Japan, CHO Won Hee also 24 played a volante role and defended the centre of the pitch, also 23 year old PARK Won Jae starred on the left. On the 20th they drew 1-1 with DPR Korea, and then in the “final” they held on to draw 1-1, protecting their lead of the tournament and claiming the title.
Topping the FIFA world rankings is Japan (35th in Feb) who had to settle for 2nd. Just before the tournament two forwards retired OKUBO Yoshito and MAKI Seiichiro and during the tournament one other forward, MAEDA Ryoichi, returned to Japan with an injury meaning their front line forces were depleted. Japan finished the tournament undefeated (1 win, 2 draws) thanks to YAMASE Koji’s goals in both the 1-0 China PR victory (20th) and the Korea Rep match (23rd, 1-1) as well as good performances by Best Defender award winner NAKAZAWA Koji and others but were unable to claim the title due to visible problems linking up with the forwards.
Hosts China PR had unlucky, narrow losses in both of their matches versus Korea Rep and Japan and had lost any chance of winning the tournament even before their last match versus DPR Korea (23rd). WANG Dong on the right and DU Zhenyu on the left provided plenty of attacking power on both sides of the pitch but the team threw themselves out of rhythm with their rough play picking up 19 cards in 3 matches. DPR Korea finished 4th and the most that could be said for them was they were a presence at this tournament. JONG Tae Se got loud cheers from the Chinese fans for his physical style and high speed attacking which earned him 2 goals. Also, golden glove JUNG Sung Ryong’s fine saves earned praise from the other 3 teams the played against. In their final match versus China PR (23rd) they lost their way but prior to that they managed to take a point from both Korea Rep and Japan.
The real stars of this tournament were the young players. Korea Rep’s YEOM Ki Hun and CHO Won Hee helped their team claim the title. Japan’s 19 year old UCHIDA Atsuto started and finished all three matches in left defense. 20 year old YASUDA Michihiro displayed his skill in controlling the game, switching defense to attack. As for hosts, China PR, 23 year old LIU Jian and 22 year old ZHOU Haibin both scored in their first match versus Korea Rep. Then one of the biggest performances of the tournament was made by DPR Korea goalkeeper JONG Tae Se who is still only 23 years old. Their bright performances will continue to light up East Asia in the future.
Korea Rep claimed their second title for the first time in 2 tournaments following three days of matches on February 17th, 20th and 23rd in the East Asian Football Championship Finals 2008. Below we recap the exciting matches from the tournament.
The strong Korea Rep team took the honors from reigning champions and hosts, China PR, to claim an important win. In the 43rd minute Korea Rep took the lead but in the second half China PR scored two goals to reverse the score line through ZHOU Haibin and LIU Jian. However Korea Rep’s PARK Chu Young scored his second of the day from a free kick, before KWAK Tae Hwi scored the decider in extra time for an amazing 3-2 win. Before the tournament coach HUH Jung Moo had said about his young players “We will play in the East Asian Championship with our 2nd team. We hope the players will grow as a result of these games” and this result obviously will have given them a lot of confidence. The stars of the Korea Rep team included tournament MVP veteran MF KIM Nam Il who was a constant presence in mid-field. 24 year old YEOM Ki Hun scored against DPR Korea and then again in the next match versus Japan, CHO Won Hee also 24 played a volante role and defended the centre of the pitch, also 23 year old PARK Won Jae starred on the left. On the 20th they drew 1-1 with DPR Korea, and then in the “final” they held on to draw 1-1, protecting their lead of the tournament and claiming the title.
Topping the FIFA world rankings is Japan (35th in Feb) who had to settle for 2nd. Just before the tournament two forwards retired OKUBO Yoshito and MAKI Seiichiro and during the tournament one other forward, MAEDA Ryoichi, returned to Japan with an injury meaning their front line forces were depleted. Japan finished the tournament undefeated (1 win, 2 draws) thanks to YAMASE Koji’s goals in both the 1-0 China PR victory (20th) and the Korea Rep match (23rd, 1-1) as well as good performances by Best Defender award winner NAKAZAWA Koji and others but were unable to claim the title due to visible problems linking up with the forwards.
Hosts China PR had unlucky, narrow losses in both of their matches versus Korea Rep and Japan and had lost any chance of winning the tournament even before their last match versus DPR Korea (23rd). WANG Dong on the right and DU Zhenyu on the left provided plenty of attacking power on both sides of the pitch but the team threw themselves out of rhythm with their rough play picking up 19 cards in 3 matches. DPR Korea finished 4th and the most that could be said for them was they were a presence at this tournament. JONG Tae Se got loud cheers from the Chinese fans for his physical style and high speed attacking which earned him 2 goals. Also, golden glove JUNG Sung Ryong’s fine saves earned praise from the other 3 teams the played against. In their final match versus China PR (23rd) they lost their way but prior to that they managed to take a point from both Korea Rep and Japan.
The real stars of this tournament were the young players. Korea Rep’s YEOM Ki Hun and CHO Won Hee helped their team claim the title. Japan’s 19 year old UCHIDA Atsuto started and finished all three matches in left defense. 20 year old YASUDA Michihiro displayed his skill in controlling the game, switching defense to attack. As for hosts, China PR, 23 year old LIU Jian and 22 year old ZHOU Haibin both scored in their first match versus Korea Rep. Then one of the biggest performances of the tournament was made by DPR Korea goalkeeper JONG Tae Se who is still only 23 years old. Their bright performances will continue to light up East Asia in the future.