"I purposely deployed the second team."
The South Korean national football team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, won 2-0 against Hong Kong in the second match of the 2025 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) at Yongin Mir Stadium at 8 p.m. on the 11th.
On this day, South Korea started Na Sang-ho (Machida Zelvia), Kang Sang-yoon, Lee Ho-jae, Lee Seung-won (Gimcheon), Seo Min-woo (Gangwon), Seo Myung-kwan (Ulsan), Jo Hyun-taek (Ulsan), Byun Jun-soo (Gwangju), and Kim Tae-hyun (Kashima Antlers) and Kim Tae-hyun (Jeonbuk) and Lee Chang-geun (goalkeeper, Daejeon).
Jo Hyun-taek, Byun Jun-soo, Seo Myung-kwan, and Kim Tae-hyun (both of them) had the opportunity to make their A-match debuts.
Head coach Hong Myung-bo, after the opening match against China (3-0 victory) on the 7th, also played with a three-back formation on this day. Byun Jun-soo, Kim Tae-hyun, and Seo Myung-kwan held the backline from the first half.
The scorers who led South Korea to victory on this day were Kang Sang-yoon and Lee Ho-jae, who have shown good performance in the K League this season.
On this day, Kang Sang-yoon took on the role of leading the attack from the right side. He met expectations. He tasted a goal in his second A-match. He scored with a turning shot from near the arc in the 27th minute of the first half.
Another 'K League star,' Lee Ho-jae, scored impressively. Lee Ho-jae used his height to easily put the ball in the net. In the 21st minute of the second half, despite the relentless pursuit from the opposing defense, he scored precisely with his head.
South Korea fielded a somewhat experimental lineup and, unlike against China, failed to score multiple goals. Considering that China lost 0-3 to South Korea, Hong Kong performed remarkably well.
This caused Chinese fans to show their inferiority complex. They claimed that South Korea purposely set up their lineup with second-string members to lower China to the bottom.
A Chinese football fan noted, "South Korea is purposely trying to humiliate China more. They already built their lineup with second-string players in a competition they participated in with second-string players."
In reality, if China loses by five goals to Japan, they will fall to the bottom.
One fan expressed their dissatisfaction, saying, "I don't understand why there is already competition at the bottom when China and Japan haven't even played yet."
Another fan sighed, saying, "The lower ranks are already visible even though we haven't played against Japan yet."
[OSEN]