[Anchor]
Seeking its fourth consecutive title, the South Korean men's national football team will face host nation Japan for the gold medal tomorrow night. Despite the tournament's overall lack of box office success, tomorrow's match has drawn intense interest, with scalped tickets even appearing. However, due to continued poor tournament management, our national team is facing difficulties preparing for the final.
Reporter Ha Seong-ryong has the story.
[Reporter]
The Lee Min-sung squad is putting the finishing touches on their training at a sub-par training facility with pitted turf in various spots and dim lighting.
The organizing committee unilaterally canceled the official match venue training scheduled for one day prior at Toyota Stadium due to pitch condition issues. Although the team requested a change because the alternative training site also had poor turf, the request was rejected.
Unlike the Japanese national team, which has already played four matches at Toyota Stadium where the final will take place, our team has been left at a disadvantage in adapting to the pitch without having played or even held official training there.
Having broken out in a cold sweat over bus dispatch issues even during the group stage, the national team members seemed almost accustomed to the sloppy tournament administration.
[Lee Min-sung / Head Coach, Asian Games Men's National Football Team: Although problems have arisen since the start of the tournament, this is something we must overcome and step past. We will not let it bother us and will do our best to win the gold medal we are aiming for.]
Having previously defeated Japan in two consecutive finals to achieve a three-peat, South Korean football is burning with fighting spirit toward a fourth straight gold medal.
Armed with a formidable firepower that has averaged 3 goals per game spearheaded by joint top scorers Um Ji-sung, Kim Myung-jun, and Lee Young-jun, the team is determined to break through the iron-clad defense of Japan, which has conceded only 1 goal across 5 matches despite fielding an Under-21 squad.
[Lee Ki-hyuk / Captain, Asian Games Men's National Football Team: I believe that if I first show just how desperate I am out on the pitch, all the players will follow along well. So I am steeling my mind and trying to prepare thoroughly.]
Despite a dismal lack of ticket sales with the overall ticket sales rate falling short of 50%, interest in tomorrow's match is burning hot.
With all 45,000 seats sold out and tickets trading on resale sites for more than 3.5 times their face value, the match is drawing attention as the biggest blockbuster of this tournament.
(Photo: Yang Doo-won | Video Editing: Lee Hong-myung, Design: Cho Su-in)
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