South Korea complete historic hat-trick of Asian Games football gold medals

• South Korea defeated Japan 2-1 in the Asian Games football final.
• South Korea staged a comeback after conceding an early goal to Japan.
• Uzbekistan earned the bronze medal by defeating Hong Kong 4-0.

In the men’s football final at the Asian Games on Saturday, South Korea staged a comeback, defeating Japan 2-1 and securing their third consecutive gold medal in the tournament.

This victory carried significant implications for the team, granting all 22 players exemption from South Korea’s mandatory military service.

The match saw an early goal by Japan, but South Korea equalized in the first half with a goal from Jeong Woo-yeong, who had already scored eight goals in the tournament. The winning goal came from Cho Young-wook ten minutes into the second half.

PSG’s midfielder Lee Kang In, who recently joined from Mallorca, was allowed to participate in the Games and can now pursue his career internationally without the obligation of military service, similar to the situation of Son Heung Min from Tottenham, who won gold in Jakarta in 2018 and received the same exemption.

Coach Hwang said the exemption was “very different from playing football” and has high hopes for Lee’s future, the international media reported.

“As long as the player has the Taeguk Warriors emblem on his shirt, he has the right and responsibility to play for Korea and play for its glory,” he said. “I am expecting his future success.”

Uchino’s early goal gave Japan the lead after Kein Sato outran the defense to find Masato Shigemi, who then supplied Uchino with the goal.

Before Jeong tied the game in the 27th minute by rising over Manato Yoshida to nod in a cross from Hwang Jae Won, South Koreans Cho and Jung Ho Yeon both tried their luck.

The winning play also involved fullback Hwang, who broke past the Japanese defense to pass the ball to Jeong, whose touch enabled Cho to give his team the lead.

In addition, Uzbekistan earned the bronze medal earlier in the day as Hong Kong was defeated 4-0 by the Central Asians thanks to two goals from Khusain Norchaev.

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