Four consecutive bitter matches between Korea and Japan..."I feel a clear gap with Japan. Korean university soccer needs to speed up."

Four consecutive bitter matches between Korea and Japan..."I feel a clear gap with Japan. Korean university soccer needs to speed up."

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"I was overpowered at speed."

Yongin University coach Park Joon-hong, who led the Korean university's football team to face Japan, looked back on the defeat. He also believed that Korea needs to increase its "speed" to gain competitiveness.

The Korean university football selection team, led by Yongin University coach Park Joon-hong, lost 0-1 in the 24th Denso Cup Korea-Japan college football regular match held at Todoroki Stadium in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on the 20th.

Having lost at the 1st and 2nd graders' championships on Wednesday, Korea failed to display strong performance in regular competitions, which were primarily focused on the 3rd and 4th graders' teams. Already, the team has been mired in four consecutive regular matches. Since the beginning of the 2004 Denso Cup, Korea has had eight wins, two draws and 11 losses overall, which is inferior to the Korean team. The record of no wins in away matches in Japan has increased to 11 matches (one draw and 10 losses).

After the game, coach Park Joon-hong said, "I didn't show much of what I prepared. I felt a clear gap once again. I think the association or the federation needs to prepare more and improve for college football in the future."

Japan led the game for the entire 90 minutes. After deploying most of the field players in the Korean team, the team constantly pressured and won the ball to aim for the goal. Korea even had difficulty even reaching the Japanese goal. "We prepared to make the players aware of Japan's pressure and aim for the back space. Such a play was not made organically," coach Park Joon-hong said.

At the level of university soccer between the two countries, coach Park Joon-hong said, "Japan's players who played in the Denso Cup last year, Asian Games, and professional players participated in the game. We had no choice but to collapse." Korea has set up the Denso Cup roster mainly for the third and fourth graders who have yet to join the professional team. In fact, Japan's "Ninth" Gotaro Uchino (Tsukuba University) scored a goal against South Korea in the final of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, and also scored multiple goals in last year's Denso Cup to lead Japan to victory.

Coach Park Joon-hong, who reflected on the defeat against Japan, explained, "I don't think we played well today because we were overwhelmed by the speed. I think our players have to be faster to go higher. We have to think fast and we have to make predictions. I think our players have to prepare a lot for this so that we can reach the top leagues."

Midfielder Kim Ha-min (Sunmoon University) who played on the pitch said, "We worked out for about 10 days, and Japan showed better skills and personal skills than I thought. We were clumsy in defense and attack for a short time. Still, I thank the players for doing their best until the end."

The Japanese players who led the game were full of confidence. They easily escaped the pressure of Korean players with their outstanding skills. The pass was also smooth as if the promise was made well.

Kim Ha-min said, "Technically, I'm preparing to win against Japan, but I also tried not to lose in competition of spirit and body. However, as I was losing skills on the field, I lost a little bit of confidence." 안전놀이터

It was a bitter loss, but it was a good match for Korean players. Kim said, "We have to win, of course, but we had a lot to learn from it. I felt that I still lacked more than Japan, and I learned a lot by letting go of my self-esteem."