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| 시시아골 SNS |
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It is quite shocking that Korean soccer has been held back by Indonesia twice in a row at the youth level.
South Korea's U-17 national soccer team, led by head coach Baek Ki-tae, lost 0-1 in the first Group C match of the 2025 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup held at Prince Abdulla-Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 5th (Korea time), giving up the winning goal to Evandra Florasta in the extra time of the second half.
South Korea, aiming for its third career championship in 23 years after the 1986 Qatar Games and the 2002 United Arab Emirates Games, turned a red light on its advance to the tournament with the defeat.
South Korea suffered the humiliation of losing to Indonesia for the first time in a face-off between the U-17 teams. The previous three matches were two wins and one draw. It was 12 years ago, in October 2013, in Jakarta, Indonesia, that Korea fell to Indonesia within regular time, losing 2-3 to then-host Indonesia.
At the A national team level, South Korea has an overwhelming advantage, winning 17 consecutive games for 50 years after losing 2-3 in the third and fourth places of Jakarta's inaugural commemorative tournament in June 1975. As of April, the FIFA rankings are exactly 100 spots apart, with South Korea ranking 23rd (third in Asia) and Indonesia 123rd (22nd).
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| Baek Ki-tae, head coach of the U-17 national team (second from left). Photo courtesy = Korea Professional Football Federation |
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| South Korea's U-17 national team. Photo courtesy = Korea Football Association |
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| Source=Indonesia Football Association |
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The shock loss of the U-17 team cannot be viewed as 'unexpected'. It should be seen as an overall crisis in Korean soccer. South Korea's U-22 national team lost 0-1 to China at the Yancheng Sports Center in China last month and tied Vietnam 1-1. He managed to save face by winning the third match, 3-1 against Uzbekistan.
In February, he lost to Saudi Arabia in the semifinals of the U-20 Asian Cup after a penalty shootout and failed to win the championship. He qualified for the U-20 World Cup by advancing to the semifinals.
The senior national team also faced heavy criticism last month when it finished 'continuous dance' in the 7th and 8th home games of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Oman (1-1 draw) and Jordan (1-1 draw). In recent years, it has been repeated that he has not been able to win results against a team under one level regardless of age.
Indonesian media 'Syagol' described it as a `Korean nightmare' for being held back by Indonesian soccer twice in just a year. "Indonesia once again knocked down South Korea and raised hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals..." he added.
The media reported that the U-23 Asian Cup held in Qatar last year and the preliminary round of the Paris Olympics were 'recall'. South Korea's U-23 national team, led by current Daejeon coach Hwang Sun-hong at the time, failed to advance to the Olympic finals for the first time in 40 years, losing 10-11 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in the quarterfinals against Indonesia's U-23 team led by former coach Shin Tae-yong.
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| AFP Yonhap News |
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The interesting fact is that both teams (U-23 and U-17) have legacies by the same coach. The U-23 team was led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, and the U-17 team was led by head coach Shin's head coach Nova Aryanto. Is it STY's secret?," he wrote.
After the game, Aryanto said, `Let's not settle for victory against Korea. I asked the players to focus on the remaining two games," he said.
Unlike Hwang Sun-hong, who suffered elimination for just one game, Baek Ki-tae still has hope. In the tournament, which includes 16 countries, a total of eight teams, top 1st and 2nd-ranked teams in four groups, will win tickets to the U-17 World Cup finals in Qatar in November. If they pass the group stage, they can make it to the finals. From this U-17 World Cup, the number of participating countries has increased significantly from 24 teams to 48.
If South Korea wins against Afghanistan on the 7th and Yemen on the 10th, it is likely to enter the second place in the group. The important thing is not to repeat the same mistakes as the match against Indonesia. Korea was behind Indonesia not only in terms of results but also in terms of content. There were only three effective shots in Korea.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
