South Korea end Thailand’s journey at U23 Asian Cup

Both South Korea and Thailand showed great determination to win the game. While South Korea had the best lineup possible, Thailand didn’t have the strongest squad as many of their players got sick before the game. Coach Worrawoot Srimaka had no choice but to put several key players on the bench. Thailand also lost forward Suphanat Mueanta, who scored three goals in the two previous games with Vietnam and Malaysia.

South Korea put pressure on Thailand right from the start. They got three corners and two shots, but failed to convert them into goals. Thailand played low and tried to regain possession from the midfield, which caused trouble for South Korea.

In the 25th minute, the ball hit the arm of a Thailand player during an aerial play. The referee checked for a possible penalty for South Korea on VAR. However, he noticed that a South Korea player was offside before that, so no penalty was given.

Ten minutes later, South Korea opened the scoring when Cho Young-wook made a through ball for Go Jae-hyeon to face keeper Nopphon Lakhonphon and finished cleanly. The referee ruled the goal offside at first, but after checking VAR again, he gave the goal to South Korea.

Right after scoring, Go Jae-hyeon got another chance to make it 2-0, but this time he missed a tap-in.

In the 42nd minute, Kritsada Kaman fell down inside the box and the referee had to stop the game again to check the play on VAR. No penalty for Thailand.

The second half saw South Korea pushing forward again. In the 54th minute, Lee Kang-in passed to Cho Young-wook, whose shot hit the post, but he was quick to tap it in. However, Cho was offside.

Although Thailand have subbed in many key players in the second half, they still failed to put pressure on South Korea. Their best chance came in the 80th minute when Achitpol Keereerom was put in a really good position to score after a link-up play, but he couldn’t beat keeper Goh Dong-min.

The game ended with a 1-0 victory for South Korea. This win helped them take the top spot of group C, while Thailand dropped to third and exited the tournament, because in the other game of the group, Vietnam won 2-0 against Malaysia and peaked second overall.