[골닷컴] Reporter Jeongbin Lee = The opening of the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup is three days away. As there has been no connection with the trophy for over 60 years since winning the first championship in 1956 and the second championship in 1960, the Asian Cup has become the competition with the greatest desire to win in Korean soccer history. Ahead of the tournament, the Korea Football Association looked at the Korean national team’s major records in the Asian Cup.
▲ Total score: 2nd after Iran
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The Asian Cup has been held a total of 17 times since the first tournament was held in Hong Kong in 1956. Korea participated 14 times, tying for first place with Iran in terms of participation. His overall record is 36 wins, 16 draws, and 15 losses in 67 matches. They have 124 points, 106 goals scored, and 64 goals conceded. The number of games, points, wins, goals, and goal difference are all ranked second after Iran (68 games, 142 points, 41 wins, 131 goals, 48 conceded goals). Third place is Japan with 30 wins and 102 points.
With two wins, they remain in fourth place, following Japan’s four wins and Iran and Saudi Arabia three times. There were four runner-up finishes, the most.
The highest goal victory of all time was in 1960, when the team beat Vietnam 5-1. On the other hand, the 2-6 loss to Iran in 1996 was the most goals conceded loss.
▲ The youngest scorer is Son Heung-min, 18 years old.
Among Korean players, Son Heung-min is the youngest scorer in Asian Cup history. Son Heung-min scored his international debut goal against India in the Qatar Asian Cup in January 2011 when he was 18 years and 194 days old. If he had attended school domestically, he would have been on the verge of graduating from high school. There is still no Korean player who has scored a goal in an A match as a high school student.
The 2nd and 3rd youngest scorers are also ‘Korean soccer legends.’ Second place is Choi Soon-ho (18 years, 249 days), who scored a goal in the 1980 Asian Cup match against Malaysia, and third place is Cha Bum-geun (18 years, 353 days), who scored his A-match debut goal in the 1972 Asian Cup match against Thailand.
Meanwhile, the oldest scorer was Choi Jeong-min, aged 33 years and 99 days, in the 2nd tournament against Vietnam held at Hyochang Stadium in Seoul in 1960.
▲ Cha Du-ri is the oldest player to compete, can Kim Tae-hwan surpass him?
Among Korean players, the player who played in the Asian Cup at the oldest age is the current national team coach, Cha Du-ri. He was 34 years and 190 days old when he played against Australia in the 2015 Asian Cup final held in Australia. Cha Du-ri also holds the record for being the oldest assister in the Asian Cup, as he led Son Heung-min’s goal after running about 50 meters in the Uzbekistan match in the quarterfinals of the same tournament.
However, the oldest player to participate in this Asian Cup may change. Kim Tae-hwan (Ulsan HD), born in 1989, will surpass Cha Du-ri’s record when he takes the field after the quarterfinals.
On the other hand, the youngest player to participate is Kim Bong-su (current Indonesian national team goalkeeper coach), who played against Iran in the 1988 Asian Cup, at 18 years and 7 days old. Second place is Son Heung-min’s match against Bahrain in 2011, aged 18 years and 186 days.
▲ The most participants are Kim Yong-dae and Son Heung-min, and the most participants are Lee Young-pyo.
The players with the most names in the Asian Cup entries are retired goalkeeper Kim Yong-dae and Son Heung-min. Kim Yong-dae has participated in the competition four times in a row since 2000, and Son Heung-min has participated in the competition for the fourth time since 2011.
The record for playing in the most games is held by former KFA Vice President Lee Young-pyo. He played a total of 16 games across three competitions in 2000, 2004, and 2011. Second place is Lee Dong-guk, Cha Du-ri, and Lee Woon-jae with 15 games.
Son Heung-min may break the record for the most appearances in this tournament. If Son Heung-min, who has played in 12 games so far, plays all the way to the quarterfinals, he will surpass Lee Young-pyo and become the player with the most appearances.
▲ Lee Dong-gook’s total of 10 goals is difficult to surpass.
The Korean player who scored the most goals in the Asian Cup is Lee Dong-guk. Lee Dong-gook scored a total of 10 goals, including 6 goals in the 2000 tournament and 4 goals in the 2004 tournament. He ranks second in Asia’s overall rankings, following Iran’s Ali Daei (14 goals). Choi Soon-ho, who scored seven goals in one tournament in 1980, is following in Lee Dong-gook’s footsteps. Among Korean players who participated in this Qatar Asian Cup, Son Heung-min has the most goals with 4 goals.
Only two players have experienced a hat trick: Choi Sun-ho (1980, against UAE) and Lee Dong-gook (2000, against Indonesia). The highest individual scoring streak is 4 consecutive games. Lee Dong-gook, Choi Soon-ho, Park I-cheon, and Woo Sang-kwon each recorded.
The fastest score was Kim Doo-hyun’s goal in the 4th minute of the first half against Bahrain in the 2007 tournament. On the other hand, the latest goal was a dramatic 2-2 equalizer scored by Hwang Jae-won in the 15th minute of extra time against Japan in the semifinals of the 2011 tournament. This goal is the latest goal scored in all of Korea’s A matches.
▲ Unprecedented fifth consecutive quarterfinal match against Iran
The opponent Korea faces the most in the Asian Cup is Kuwait. They met a total of eight times, including the final in 1980.
The Asian Cup’s ‘best performance’ is definitely Iran. They faced each other five times in a row from 1996 to 2011, and all of them were quarterfinals. Not only is it rare for a team to face a specific country five times in a row in a major international tournament, but it is also unprecedented in the world to only meet in the quarterfinals. Fortunately, in the five quarterfinal matches, we won and advanced to the semifinals more often than not.
At one time, the Asian Cup was also the ‘graveyard’ of the national team’s head coach. Coaches Park Jong-hwan in 1996, Huh Jung-moo in 2000, and Pim Verbeek in 2007 all resigned due to poor performance in the Asian Cup.
The 76,385 spectators for the 2015 final against Australia in Sydney is Korea’s largest Asian Cup attendance ever. There is a record that more than 80,000 people attended the 2007 match against the home team, Indonesia, but this is not an accurate attendance count.
2024-01-10 11:00:00
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