South Korea’s young guns too good for China in East Asian Football Championship

South Korea were missing their A-list stars but they did not need Son Heung-min or Lee Kang-in to sweep aside China 3-0 in their opening East Asian Football Championship game on Monday.

The lesser-heralded Lee Dong-gyeong and Joo Min-kyu were more than good enough to exploit an inexperienced opposition’s poor defending, putting their side 2-0 up at half-time at Yongin Mireu Stadium.

Centre-back Kim Ju-sung rammed home following a 57th-minute corner, at which point South Korea boss Hong Myung-bo began making changes with an eye on Friday’s game against Hong Kong.

There was no hint of the new era promised by China’s caretaker manager Dejan Djurdjevic after their 2026 World Cup elimination last month. Rather, this was a return to the fearful, creatively bankrupt approach that got previous head coach Branko Ivankovic the sack.

Djurdjevic sidestepped a post-match question about whether he had been given a “do not finish last” objective for the tournament. Hong Kong, however, will fancy their chances of finally winning a point at a championships at the fifth attempt.

“We played well at the beginning, but Korea scored a super goal, then they played very well and we didn’t perform,” Djurdjevic said.