Korea defeats Japan, wins East Asia Cup
South Korea's Hwang In-beom, second from left, celebrates after scoring the first goal during the final match against Japan during the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in the southern port city of Busan, Wednesday. South Korean won the game 1-0 and won the championship three-peat. Yonhap
By John Duerden
South Korea defeated Japan 1-0 on Wednesday evening to win its third successive East Asian Cup. It was also a third win out of three games in the past week and means that all will break for Christmas and New Year a little happier.
It is always better to win than to lose. Korea won all three games, 2-0 against Hong Kong and then China and Japan by the same scoreline to take maximum points without conceding a goal.
Hwang In-beom has had a fine tournament. The midfielder scored a fine free-kick to break the deadlock in the win over Hong Kong in the opening game and his goal after 27 minutes was even more eye-catching. Kim Jin-su advanced towards the Japanese penalty area, attracting the attention of defenders before laying the ball off for Hwang. The Vancouver-based midfielder took a touch to make room for himself outside the box and then curled a beautiful shot, left-footed, right into the bottom corner of the Samurai Blue goal.
It was a deserved victory for the home team and it should have been more comfortable. It was also an expected one. While coach Paulo Bento was without his European-based stars such as Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan (this four-nation tournament that takes place every other year is not on FIFA's official calendar meaning that clubs are under no obligation to release their players), he did select the strongest roster he possibly could.
There was plenty of experience among the Taegeuk Warriors' ranks. This is in stark contrast to Japan. You could debate as to whether Korea's team was a “B” team or not ― in local media terms, this kind of line-up, strong but not the strongest, is usually described as 1.5 ― but Japan's team was, at the most, a “C” team.
The young players, most of whom had never represented their country at the senior level before heading to Busan, will have benefited greatly from the experience and learned a great deal from playing in a strong Korea team.
It is understandable from Bento. If he had experimented and lost to China and Japan then there would have been fierce criticism from fans and media. He may well feel that after a mediocre year with the national team, he is not in a strong enough position to risk defeats on home soil against bitter regional rivals. In Korea, winning the East Asian Cup does not bring many plaudits but losing it does not go down well.
And there is the fact that he wants to get his team playing as well as possible ahead of the resumption of qualifications for the 2022 World Cup in March.
That is when we will see how valuable this past week has been. For now though, South Korea ends 2019 on a gentle high.