"I want to congratulate the victorious team. They did much better than I had prepared for."
It was a perfect first match to the extent that coach Hong Myung-bo applauded. The Hong Myung-bo team managed to catch both the refreshing victory and the test of new faces.
The South Korea national football team defeated China 3-0 in the opening match of the 2025 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) held at Yongin Mir Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 7th.
With this, Korea, which is challenging for the championship, made a good start. The team, which achieved a great victory, will clash with Hong Kong on the 11th and Japan on the 15th. All matches will be held in Yongin, and the final ranking will be determined based on the results of the three matches.
Aiming for a perfect victory, the Hong Myung-bo team recorded second place after suffering a 0-3 defeat to Japan in the "Yokohama Disaster" at the tournament held three years ago. This tournament, being held at home, presents the first opportunity to lift the trophy since the 2019 Busan tournament.
On this day, the Hong Myung-bo team tested several players based on a "surprise three-back". Korea started with a 3-4-3 formation. Moon Seon-min, Joo Min-kyu, Lee Dong-gyeong, Lee Tae-seok, Kim Jin-kyu, Kim Bong-soo, Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Joo-seong, Park Jin-seop, and Park Seung-wook were the starters.
Kim Moon-hwan made his first appearance since November last year, and Park Seung-wook received his first starting opportunity in an A match. Kim Bong-soo made his A match debut.
Nevertheless, Korea boasted overwhelming strength. With higher-level movements and build-up, they easily created chances by breaking China's strong high press. The opening goal came early. In the 8th minute of the first half, Lee Dong-gyeong opened the scoring with a fantastic left-footed curler.
The match was one-sided thereafter. Korea scored an additional goal in the 21st minute of the first half with a powerful header from Joo Min-kyu following a cross from Lee Tae-seok, and stretched the lead to 3-0 with Kim Joo-seong's A match debut goal in the 12th minute of the second half.
China had difficulty in creating even decent shooting opportunities. In the second half, they utilized several substitutions, including Brazilian naturalized player Sai Erjiniyao (Serginho), but it did not go as planned. China did not record a single effective shot until the end of the match.
Thanks to this, coach Hong Myung-bo was able to continue his experiments more comfortably. He substituted Moon Seon-min and Joo Min-kyu in the 19th minute of the second half for Kang Sang-yoon and Lee Ho-jae. Ten minutes later, he replaced Kim Bong-soo and Kim Moon-hwan with Mo Jae-hyun and Seo Min-woo. All four substitutes made their A match debuts.
For domestic players, this tournament is a golden opportunity to nurture dreams for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, which is approaching next summer. Since the East Asian Cup does not take place during the FIFA-designated A match period, it is impossible to call up European players, and Middle Eastern players also decided not to join. For this reason, coach Hong Myung-bo formed a final roster of 26 players with 23 K League members (22 from the first division and 1 from the second division) and 3 Japan J League players.
"The war has already begun," noted coach Hong Myung-bo, declaring the selection process. He successfully took advantage of the valuable opportunity not only by winning the first match but also by testing various players in real matches. Keeping a clean sheet was a bonus. The next opponent is Japan, so it is likely that they will find it difficult to experiment as comfortably as in this match.
After the match, coach Hong Myung-bo said, "Indeed, they have good skills, but they must have felt that the A match debut is not easy. They probably realized how valuable the experience with the national team is." He added, "I am preparing for the next match to have young players participate. I believe they feel that this A match debut was meaningful. There were a few mistakes, but I expect them to grow more from this match."
[OSEN]