Top scorer in multi-goal quarterfinal with ‘seven goals’
South Korea’s quest for a third consecutive Asian Games men’s soccer title is
underway, and like Hwang Eui-jo (Norwich City) five years ago, South Korean striker
Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart) has stepped up to the plate.
Jung scored a brace to lead South Korea to a 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan in their
men’s football semifinal at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Thursday at the
Huanglong Sports Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China.
After advancing past Uzbekistan, South Korea will face Japan for the gold medal on Sunday.
Jung Woo-young
Who started in an attacking trio with Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon) and Uhm Won-
sang (Ulsan), played until the 14th minute of the second half when he was replaced
by Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk).
Starting on the flank, Jung opened the scoring just four minutes into the match. On a
set-piece opportunity, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Hong Hyun-seok
(Hent) sent in a cross from Uhm Won-sang, and the onrushing Jung Woo-young finished with his right foot.
After conceding an equalizer to Uzbekistan’s Yasurbek Yalolidinov in the 26th minute
of the first half, Jung was the man to save the day.
Jung opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk) pushed
the ball into the opponent’s penalty box with a header and Jung pounced on it to
finish with a right-footed shot.
With his sixth and seventh goals of the tournament, Jung Woo-young, who was tied
for the top scorer with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Maran with five goals through the
quarterfinals, became the tournament’s top scorer.
He is now just two goals shy of the record set by striker Hwang Eui-jo, who led Korea
to victory at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
At the time, Hwang exploded for nine goals to become the tournament’s top scorer.
In the quarterfinal match against Uzbekistan, which was the pinnacle of the
tournament, Hwang scored a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime victory. Jung Woo-young’s
performance against Uzbekistan mirrored Hwang’s.
Including Hwang, South Korea has had three top scorers at the Asian Games.
Seo Won-jeong
In 1990 (4 goals), Hwang Sun-hong in 1994 (11 goals), and Hwang Ui-jo in 2018 were
the top scorers, and Jung Woo-young could very well become the fourth.
Wearing the No. 7 shirt of his senior national team teammate Son Heung-min
(Tottenham), Jung plays as a flanker, but he often breaks into the opponent’s danger
zone and looks for goals himself.
It’s a play reminiscent of Son Heung-min.
He exploded for a hat-trick in the first game of the tournament against Kuwait on
March 19, followed by a multi-goal performance in the round of 16 against Kyrgyzstan,
his first game of the tournament.
In the semifinals, which set the stage for the final, Jung also scored two goals with
exquisite positioning and concentration in the box.
After playing for Freiburg in the German Bundesliga, Jung joined Stuttgart last
summer, where he was a regular starter at the start of the season and improved his
form before joining Hwang Sun-hong.
He only played four official matches (three in the Bundesliga and one in the DFB-
Pokal) due to his participation in the Asian Games, but he was in good form, notching
his first assist of the season against his hometown club Freiburg. 스포츠토토맨
