September 19, 2023 <Day 3>
The fateful day has arrived. The first match between the U-24 national soccer team led by coach Hwang Seon-hong and Kuwait. After covering the opening of the Hangzhou Athletes’ Village in the morning, I boarded the train to go to Jinhua Stadium, where the game was being held.
This was my first feeling upon arriving at the stadium. ‘Why is it so quiet?’. I didn’t feel the atmosphere of the Asian Games at all. Although it had the disadvantage of being a city more than 170km away from Hangzhou, it was not a typical competition event.
메이저놀이터The next step in understanding the atmosphere is checking the movements. I entered the locations in my head, including the press conference room where the coach was interviewed after the game and the mixed zone where I met the players.
Then I went to the press box and watched the game between Bahrain and Thailand. Since it was the same group as Korea, I was naturally interested in the results. It looked like Bahrain would get three points, but Thailand scored a dramatic goal and the game ended 1-1.
Now, all they have to do is win against Hwang Seon-Hong-Ho.
The game went differently(?) than expected. Starting with Jung Woo-young’s score in the second minute of the first half, Cho Young-wook, Baek Seung-ho, and Jung Woo-young took a 4-0 lead in the first half alone.
Until then, I thought, ‘Okay, if we score 1-2 more goals in the second half, it will be over.’ But what is this? Five goals, more than the first half, were scored in the second half, bringing the score to 9-0.
For the first time, I saw 9 goals on the field. The previous reporter’s career high was ‘7 goals’. The 4-3 match between Suwon FC and FC Seoul in K League 1 last season. Moreover, although these ‘7 goals’ were scored by both teams combined, only Korea enjoyed the joy of these 9 goals.
Jung Woo-young hat trick, Jo Young-wook multi-goal, Baek Seung-ho, Park Jae-yong, and Ahn Jae-jun scored one goal each. A clean 9-0.
Even when I wonder if this score record can be broken again, an absolute famous quote in the world of soccer comes to mind.
‘The ball is round’