‘We lost our first game’ Byun Sung-hwan “I’m disappointed with the result, but I don’t regret it”
U-17s lose 1-3 to USA in first World Cup match
Hosts France in the second round of group play on Aug. 15
The South Korea Under-17 National Team lost to the United States in its first match at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023.
The U-17 national team, led by Byun Sung-hwan, fell 1-3 to the United States of America in their first Group E match of the tournament at the Jakarta International Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, at 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The team was unlucky to hit the post on two occasions. The team’s aggressive offense stood out, but defensive lapses led to a number of goals.
Coach Byun told the Korea Football Association on the 13th, “The result is disappointing. We created a lot of scoring chances, but we couldn’t capitalize on them, and we will need to make corrections and improvements for the rest of the season for conceding so easily.”
However, he added: “I don’t think our game plan was wrong. In preparing this team, we wanted to play aggressive soccer, different from the Korean soccer at the Age Group World Cup, and we played risky soccer and conceded a lot of goals. I don’t regret it,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s a failure if we don’t get results at this age group. It’s important for young players to try to play challenging soccer, see how competitive they are on the world stage, and learn and grow from their mistakes and conceded goals.”
South Korea started the tournament in third place in the group behind France and the United States (W1 D1 L3). Burkina Faso (1 loss) is in last place.
A total of 24 countries, including South Korea, participated in the tournament. The group stage is divided into six groups of four countries each. The top two finishers in each group and the four best third-place finishers advance to the round of 16 tournament.
South Korea’s best finish at the U-17 World Cup is the quarterfinals, which they have achieved three times, in 1987, 2009 and 2019.
“We still have a good chance of reaching the round of 16,” Byun said. France and Burkina Faso are also very strong teams, but we will prepare to play a winning game while maintaining our style.”
Kim Myung-jun (Pohang Steelers U-18), who scored the equalizer in the 35th minute after falling behind 0-1, said, “It’s a shame that we didn’t get a result in the first game, even though we prepared a lot. The tournament is not over yet, so we will do our best to prepare for the next match.”
Byun Sung-hwanho will play the second match of the group stage against France, which is considered the strongest team in the group, on May 15. 슬롯사이트
