What's wrong with the U23 younger brothers? Korean soccer is all over the place...Saudi Arabia's 2nd consecutive series 06 shock overshadowed by Oh Dae-young, Lee Min-sung's squeaky squeaky squeaky

Oct 16, 2025

photo courtesy of the Korea Football Association

While soccer fans were focusing on the A-match friendly match between Brazil (0-5 loss) and Paraguay (2-0 win) between South Korea's national soccer A team in Korea, a history of humiliation was written in Saudi Arabia. It is only less illuminated, but the content is more disastrous than the match against Brazil 'Oh Dae-young'.

The U-22 national team, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, lost two consecutive scoreless games, 0-4 and 0-2 in two friendly matches against the Saudi U-22 team in Saudi Arabia. No matter how much Saudi Arabia enjoys the benefits of its home team environmentally and it was an unofficial friendly match, it is a difficult result to accept. South Korea previously never lost against Saudi Arabia at the U-23 level. After a 1-1 draw with Yoon Jeong-hwan's goal in the Atlanta Olympics qualifying round in March 1996, Um Ji-sung's goal won the WAFF U-23 Championship semifinals 1-0 in March 2024, he dominated nine consecutive games (6 wins and 3 draws) and three consecutive losses. Saudi Arabia's FIFA ranking is 59th and South Korea's 23rd. South Korea lost to Saudi Arabia in the semifinals of the U-17 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in April and the semifinals of the U-20 Asian Cup in China in February, and suffered elimination.

Ahead of the Saudi away match, which also serves as an off-season training, coach Lee said "It is a good opportunity to understand the host environment because it is an off-season training in Saudi Arabia, where the U-23 Asian Cup will be held next year. As such, he is heading with the mindset that it is the same as the Asian Cup finals. I will keep the outline of the team that will compete in the finals." Then "We identified the shortcomings through the Asian Cup qualifying round. Due to the timing, the Asian Cup qualifying tournament focused on producing results. In this schedule, the goal is to set the direction of soccer that we are pursuing, and he announced his plan to focus on increasing his performance in preparation for the Asian Cup finals in January next year and further qualifying for the 2026 LA Olympics.

The goal is to put more emphasis on finding new faces, harmony of the team, and strengthening tactics, but losing helplessly to a Saudi-class team is a different story. All football games are aimed at winning. When solving a math problem, only the solution is perfect and the wrong answer is written down. In this two consecutive games, Lee Min-sung's answers are all wrong. South Korean soccer, which was shockingly eliminated from the qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics, is facing mounting anxiety that it may not make it to the finals for the second consecutive tournament.

The first friendly match held at Prince Saud bin Zalawi Sports Stadium in Kovar, Saudi Arabia, on the 10th (Korea time) was disastrous. Coach Lee selected Yang Min-hyuk (Portsmouth), the best midfielder of Dongnai University, Lee Seung-won (Kim Chun), Hwang Do-yoon (Seoul), K Leaguer Kang Min-joon (Pohang), Choi Seok-hyun (Ulsan), Jung Ji-hoon (Gwangju) and Lee Hyun-yong (Suwon FC). In the 40th minute of the first half, Abdulaziz Alerwai gave up the first run. Goalkeeper Moon Hyun-ho (Kim Chun) tried to poorly clear the opponent's long ball pass toward the back space of the Korean defense, leading to a loss. South Korea, which helplessly scored an additional goal on Ahmed Aljuleidan's mid-range shot in the 9th minute of the second half, tried to change by replacing eight field players in the 11th minute of the second half. However, in the 16th and 18th minutes of the second half, the defender's pass miss and unreasonable dribbling breakthrough in the defense side collapsed, giving consecutive runs to Alerwai and Faisal Albiani. Three of the four goals came from South Korean players' mistakes.

Coach Lee moved to the Al Fatech Club Stadium and changed four starting positions in the second game, which was held, to avenge himself. However, they lost 0-2 in the 45th minute and 34th minute in the first half, allowing back-to-back penalties to Meshari Alnemer and Majed Abdullah. The fact that he didn't score a goal in two games is a serious problem. Lee Min-sung's 'Ace' Bae Joon-ho (Stoke City) suffered a shoulder injury during training in preparation for the first game and was released from the call-up. Midfielder Lee Hyun-joo (Aroka) and winger Kim Min-soo (Andora) were unable to join due to knee injuries and team circumstances, respectively.

Lee Min-sung completed an off-season training schedule of eight nights and nine days from the 15th and 6th. South Korea won the ticket to the finals with all three games in the Asian Cup qualifying round in September. Group C was formed with Uzbekistan, Iran and Lebanon at the Asian Cup finals draw ceremony announced on the 2nd. South Korea will clash with Iran on January 7, Lebanon on January 10, and Uzbekistan on January 13. Coach Lee took on the task of raising the team's strength before the main competition.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.