Gallant effort not enough for Azkals U-23 as Korea show finesse

The brave Philippine Azkals U-23 put up a brave effort against the defending AFC U-23 champions South Korea but the young Taeguks showed why there are defending their title as they scored three easy goals to open the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.

The young Azkals started off the tournament with a bit of hope as they were able to string a lot of passes around the midfield, make the Koreans work, and more importantly, hold them to a scoreless draw in the first half.

However, the defending champions shifted to third gear come the second half and from there, everything flowed right to their own liking.

Seven minutes into the second half, Lee Kyuhyuk found the opener after a lovely cross from the left-hand side found him wide open inside the box. They tried to double the lead in just three minutes as Park Jeong-In fired one from distance but Quincy Kameraad was up to the challenge.

With match fitness coming into play already, the Azkals U-23 were seen chasing for the ball while hanging on for dear life. They still did not back down as whenever they get the ball, they are always on the run and in the hunt for that elusive equalizer.

Come the 72nd minute of the match, Korea U-23 already killed it off as Go Jaehyeon took a first-time strike past Kameraad thanks to an incisive pass from Lee who took three defenders with him.

A rare opportunity came for the Philippines U-23 in the 82nd minute as a solid counterattack sparked by Mark Winhoffer and Dennis Chung who then passed it to Jens Rasmussen but he couldn't pull the trigger in time to pull one back.

The Koreans capped off a perfect night after a wide-open header for Park Jeong-In sealed the three points and push them to the top of their group.

Despite the defeat, the young Azkals showed a lot of promise and will be looking forward to their next match against the hosts Singapore on the 28th of October.

Photo By: ACO Eibbor Photography