Asian Games
Cho young-wook hit the winner for the Koreans in the 56th minute after Jeong Woo-yeong had cancelled out Kotaro Uchino’s second minute opener as the Japanese fell in the final to their near-neighbours for the second tournament in a row.
Korea Republic had prevailed in the 2018 final in Jakarta having also won the title in Incheon four years earlier and this year’s success comes after victories in 1986 as well as in 1978 and 1970, when they shared the gold with DPR Korea and Myanmar respectively.
“I think the gold medal is an ongoing process which is endless ,” said Hwang. “We will have new achievements in the future and we will go down the same path then as well. We will be trying to qualify for the Olympic Games so the gold medal is only for today.”
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The game was in its second minute when the Japanese took the lead, Kein Sato bursting down the left before cutting the ball back to Masato Shigemi who, in turn, fed Kotaro Uchino to score beyond Lee Gwang-yeon.
A minute later Uchino saw his effort deflected wide and, from the resulting corner, Taichi Yamasaki shot over the bar as Go Oiwa’s side made an electric start.
The Koreans, though, hauled themselves into the contest. Cho Young-wook headed wide before Jung Ho-yeon pulled his shot off target when Yamasaki had misplaced pass out of defence momentarily put the Japanese in trouble.
The equaliser was to come in the 27th minute, Hwang Jae-won sending over a cross that Jeong powered into the top corner after outjumping Manato Yoshida.
Hwang’s side saw Cho go close twice more the interval, Kazuki Fujita doing well to keep out his 30th minute header on the run before the Japanese goalkeeper also denied the Korean striker's low attempt in first half injury time.
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Cho finally found his way through in the 56th minute, jabbing the ball home from close range after holding off the Japanese defence following Jeong’s layoff and Hwang’s earlier drive into the penalty area.
He could have added a third for this team 10 minutes later after cutting inside to thump another effort goalward, but the shot was too wide and high to trouble Fujita.
Uzbekistan claimed the bronze medal in the day’s earlier game as Timur Kapadze’s side handed Hong Kong, China a 4-0 defeat.
Alisher Odilov put the Central Asians ahead two minutes before the break when he worked the ball onto his left foot to curl a vicious strike past Tse Ka Wing and Khusain Norchaev doubled the advantage from close range four minutes after the restart.
Norchaev showed his predatory instincts again 10 minutes later before Alibek Davronov put the result beyond doubt 15 minutes from time.
"Our mission before the Asian Games was to go back with a medal at least,” said Kapadze. “We wanted to be the champions of this tournament, but to become champion it was not easy.
“We fought well and our participation in the tournament was not so bad. A bronze medal is also a good achievement for the tournament and we are also really glad to be part of history.”
