Hangzhou, China, October 7, 2023: Cho Young-wook struck 11 minutes into the second half as Republic of Korea came back from going behind to an early Kotaro Uchino goal to defeat Japan 2-1 in the final of the men’s football on Saturday and retain the Asian Games gold medal.
Cho was on target after Jeong Woo-yeong had cancelled out Uchino’s second-minute strike as the Republic of Korea won the Asian Games title for the third time in a row, defeating the Japanese in consecutive tournaments.
“I think the gold medal is an ongoing process which is endless ,” said winning coach Hwang Sun-hong. “We will have new achievements in the future and we will go down the same path then as well.
“We will be trying to qualify for the Olympic Games so the gold medal is only for today.”
Japan took a second-minute lead when Kein Sato burst down the left to feed Masato Shigemi and his pass was thumped past goalkeeper Lee Gwang-yeon by Uchino.
Taichi Yamasaki sent his attempt over the bar moments later as Go Oiwa’s side made an electric start, but the Koreans were to haul themselves level by the 27th minute.
Cho and Jung Ho-yeon both had sights of goal before Jeong found the net for the eighth time in the competition, outjumping Manato Yoshida to head in Hwang Jae-won’s pinpoint centre.
Eleven minutes into the second half the Koreans took the lead, Cho showing his determination to apply the finishing touch after Hwang had driven through the defence and Jeong steered the ball into the striker’s path.
Cho and Lee Kang-in both went close to adding to the scoreline for Hwang’s side as the Republic of Korea became the first nation to win the gold medal on six occasions.
“During the match there was a fierce fight for control of the ball, sometimes we controlled it and at other times our opponent controlled it, but eventually we lost,” said Oiwa.
“We wanted to win and we do not want to stay with this. We want to improve and eventually win.”
*Uzbekistan took the bronze medal, defeating Hong Kong, China 4-0 to earn a spot on the Asian Games podium for the first time since winning gold at Hiroshima in 1994.
Alisher Odilov gave Timur Kapadze’s side the lead two minutes before the break and, four minutes after the interval, Khusain Norchaev doubled his side’s lead from close range.
Norchaev struck again in the 59th minute, again from close range, before Alibek Davronov put the seal on Uzbekistan’s win 15 minutes from time.
"Our mission before the Asian Games was to go back with a medal at least,” said Kapadze. “We wanted to be the champions of this tournament, but to become champion it was not easy.
“We fought well and our participation in the tournament was not so bad. A bronze medal is also a good achievement for the tournament and we are also really glad to be part of history.”
