Pitted Turf and Dim Lighting: What's Happening Ahead of the South Korea-Japan Final

[Anchor]

Aiming for its fourth consecutive championship, the men's national football team will face the host nation, Japan, for the gold medal tomorrow night (October 3). Despite the tournament's overall lack of box office success, tomorrow's match has drawn intense interest, with even scalped tickets appearing. However, due to continued poor tournament management, our national team is facing difficulties preparing for the final match.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the details.

[Reporter]

The Lee Min-sung squad is putting on the final touches at a poor training facility with uneven, pitted turf and dim lighting.

The organizing committee unilaterally canceled the official training session at Toyota Stadium, where the final will be held, just a day before the match due to turf condition issues. The team requested a change because the alternative training ground also had poor grass quality, but the request was rejected.

Unlike the Japanese national team, which has already played four matches here at Toyota Stadium where the final is held, our team has neither played a match nor had official training here, putting us at a disadvantage in adapting to the pitch.

Having broken a sweat over bus dispatch issues even during the group stage, the national team members seem almost accustomed to the sloppy tournament management.

[Lee Min-sung / Head Coach, Asian Games Men's Football Team: Problems have been arising since the start of the tournament, but that is also something we need to overcome and step over. We won't let it bother us and will do our best to win the gold medal we are aiming for.]

Having defeated Japan in the previous two finals to achieve a three-peat, South Korean football is burning with fighting spirit toward a fourth consecutive gold medal.

The team is determined to pierce Japan's iron-clad defense—which has conceded only one goal in five matches despite fielding an under-21 squad—using its formidable firepower that has averaged three goals per game, spearheaded by joint top scorers Um Ji-sung, Kim Myung-jun, and Lee Young-jun.

[Lee Gi-hyuk / Captain, Asian Games Men's Football Team: If I first show how desperate I am on the pitch, I believe all the players will follow along well. So I am making up my mind firmly and trying to prepare well.]

Despite a disastrous lack of box office success with overall ticket sales failing to reach 50 percent, interest in tomorrow's match is red-hot.

All 45,000 seats are sold out, and tickets are being traded on resale sites for more than 3.5 times their face value, drawing attention as the biggest blockbuster match of this tournament.

(Photo: Yonhap News) (Video by Yang Doo-won, Video Editing by Lee Hong-myung, Design by Cho Su-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.