Yongin: With a chance to win their first East Asian men's football title in six years on home soil, South Korea failed to rise to the occasion Tuesday night against Japan. South Korea barely made a dent in losing to Japan 1-0 in the teams' final match of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Yongin, some 40 kilometers south of Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Japan won their second consecutive EAFF title with nine points, having earlier defeated Hong Kong and China. South Korea had beaten those two same teams to begin the four-nation competition and also had to get past Japan for the EAFF crown. Playing in front of 18,418 fans, by far the largest crowd of the tournament that had struggled to generate much buzz, South Korea came up empty despite finishing with superior ball possession numbers.
South Korea were unlucky, too, as Na Sang-ho hit the far post from the left side of the box on a counterattack opportunity in the seventh minute. Instead of taking an early lead, South Korea conceded what turned out to be the match's only goal in the very next minute. Ryo Germain volleyed home a seemingly innocuous cross by Yuki Soma. Germain didn't initially appear to have much space for a shot, but when defender Lee Tae-seok was late putting his body on him, the Japanese forward made no mistake in scoring his tournament-best fifth goal.
Japan kept creating turnovers in the attacking zone with their high pressing. South Korean goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo and the defenders in front of him often seemed flustered by pressure from Japanese forwards and failed to make clean outlet passes on several occasions. The momentum shifted a bit in South Korea's favor after the restart. The home team dominated ball possession for the final 45 minutes but they couldn't translate that into any goal.
It wasn't until the 84th minute that South Korea had their first shot on target, and it ended up being the team's closest call. Substitute Lee Ho-jae, playing in just his third international match, launched an acrobatic volley as he fell to the pitch, but goalkeeper Keisuke Osako made a crucial diving stop. Lee's header in the dying seconds of the match went wide left of the target, as South Korea suffered their third straight loss against Japan. South Korea finished with nine shot attempts to Japan's four.