Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Yangon: Coach An Ye-gun rued the missed chances and tiredness that according to him were to blame for DPR Korea’s 1-0 defeat to Qatar in Thursday’s AFC U-19 Championship final, as his side fell short in their quest for a fourth title at this tournament.
Forwards Jo Sol-song and Jo Kwang-myong both had golden opportunities to open the scoring in the first half with the former seeing a shot blocked by Qatar goalkeeper Yousof Hassan and his strike-partner going even closer shortly after, as his close-range effort was deflected onto the upright and behind.
But in the second-half their prolificacy was punished as Qatar substitute Akram Afif nodded in a corner on the 50th minute mere seconds after coming on and although An’s side toiled in search of an equaliser, they struggled to create further meaningful openings as the West Asians claimed a maiden title.
“We had a lot of chances in the first half but we just couldn’t take them. If we could have scored just one of them it would have brought more strength to the players, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said An.
“And then Qatar scored early in the second-half which meant my players maybe felt too much pressure to quickly get an equaliser and they tried to attack too urgently and we couldn’t create our combinations.
“While I was satisfied with the players at half-time after their first half performance, in the second half they got tired and couldn’t play up to their or my expectations.”
Having qualified for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup by virtue of finishing amongst the top four teams, An was able to reflect on a tournament which he felt would assist him and the DPR Korea side in future competitions.
“The most important thing I’ve learned from this tournament is that the players have to be physically prepared. If you are not in the right shape even if you are a good player, you will play bad,” he added.
“I also need to focus on more physicall preparations and tactical trainings before the next tournament.
“After we return to our country, we will reflect and rest, and then in March begin our preparations for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
“We won the AFC U-19 Championship three times before, and I was really expecting us to get a fourth title tonight but it wasn’t to be.
“I’d like to congratulate Qatar on winning the championship and I have a feeling we will have many more chances to play against them in the future at this stage of tournaments.”