South Korea U-23 Admits It Will Be Difficult To Fight Indonesia U-23 Due To Injury Storm

South Korea U-23 will work hard against Indonesia U-23 (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - Indonesia U-23 will meet South Korea U-23 in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup quarter-finals at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, April 25, 2024.

Seeing the big name, Taegeuk Warriors is clearly more favored by Garuda Muda. However, seeing the Indonesian U-23 game in the group stage plus internal problems, South Korea U-23 admits that it will be difficult in the quarter-finals later.

South Korean U-23 coach Hwang Sun-hong said the internal problem in question was an injury storm. He saw his troops had to work very hard to win the match.

"It's very difficult to play against any team in a tournament like this. We really did our best to win the game." There are some injury problems in the squad. It's a difficult situation right now. However, I want to praise my players for all the hard work they've done in this game."

"This is not the end of the tournament. This is just the beginning. Indonesia U-23 is a very competitive team to fight. So, we have to do our best and be prepared for the next match," Hwang said on the AFC official website.

Hwang made 10 changes from the squad that won the match against China U-23 2-0. Lee Young-jun who scored two goals against China U-23 including players who were not fielded as starters against Japan U-23.

Not only that, Kim Min-soo, who scored the only goal to win over Japan U-23, also emerged from the bench in the second half. "I had to do a lot of rotation because there was an injury problem in the squad. I needed to find the best way to win the game and get results," he said. "The players really performed very well, according to my game plan. This is not what we wanted, but I tried to think positively."

"I want to thank the players for their great efforts," Hwang said again.

Meanwhile, Shin Tae-yong seems to have been able to freely compile the U-23 Indonesian squad. Two players who were affected by card accumulation, Ivar Jenner and Ramadhan Sananta, have returned.

However, Shin Tae-yong still has to mix up the line-up that was right after Nathan Tjoe-A-On left.

As is known, Nathan took an important role in the second line of Garuda Muda. His ability to adjust the tempo, plan attacks, and decide the opponent's attack must be patched by other players.