(Asiad) Bundesliga midfielder stays hot to send S. Korea into men’s football final

When you’re hot, you’re hot.

VfB Stuttgart attacker Jeong Woo-yeong scored a pair to help South Korea get past Uzbekistan 2-1 in the semifinals of the Asian Games men’s football tournament in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday. South Korea now sit a win away from winning their third straight gold medal, with Japan standing in the way to the top of the podium.

With two goals against Uzbekistan at Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium, Jeong now leads the competition with seven goals in six contests.

Jeong will most likely finish the tournament as the top scorer. His closest pursuer, Mohammed Maran of Saudi Arabia, is already out of the tournament. Among the players still alive in the competition, three South Koreans, Hong Hyun-seok, Paik Seung-ho and Cho Young-wook, have three goals apiece. Kotaro Uchino of Japan also has three.

Three South Korean players before Jeong have led the Asian Games in goals, including Jeong’s head coach in Hangzhou, Hwang Sun-hong.

Jeong opened his tournament with a hat trick against Kuwait on Sept. 19 and hasn’t looked back since.

Against Uzbekistan, Jeong used his smart positioning and industrious off-ball movements to find the right spots at the right time.

On Jeong’s first goal, midfielder Lee Kang-in fooled defenders with a fake shot off a free kick and instead passed the ball to Um Won-sang speeding down the right side of the box. Um centered the ball to Jeong, who got himself open behind the defense for an easy goal.

The second goal, which broke a 1-1 deadlock, might have been even easier, as he took advantage of some shaky defending by Uzbekistan. Due to apparent miscommunication, Saidazamat Mirsaidov and Asadbek Rakhimzhonov both failed to clear a loose ball out of harm’s way, hanging goalkeeper Vladimir Nazarov out to dry. Jeong came out of nowhere to pounce on the ball and rolled it into the net.

Jeong said afterward he doesn’t consciously try to score goals, but he does have a good nose for the goal in Hangzhou.

“Over the course of this tournament, I think I’ve grown more confident that I can score some goals,” Jeong said.

After his goals, Jeong celebrated by looking at his left wrist, as if to check the time, while pointing at the side of his head with his right index finger.

“I wanted to make sure I would remember the time whenever I score goals,” Jeong said of a celebration somewhat reminiscent of that by NBA star Damian Lillard.

South Korea hung on for the narrow lead Jeong provided. Jeong’s two goals came on the only two shots on target that South Korea had in this match.

As for the gold medal match against Japan, Jeong said he couldn’t wait to take the field against South Korea’s longtime sporting rival.

“I am really looking forward to that match. We’ve all come this far trying to get to that final, and now we get to play Japan for the gold medal,” Jeong said. “Everyone here is really motivated and driven. We’re going to prepare hard to play a really good match.”

Jeong insisted his mental approach won’t be any different for the final.

“We’re all just trying to take it one match at a time,” he said. “We all have our mental challenges, but we’ve overcome all of them to get to this point.”

When South Korea won the 2018 Asian Games gold medal, forward Hwang Ui-jo won the scoring title with nine goals. Jeong could match that total with a brace against Japan.

“It’d be nice to score more goals,” Jeong said. “But it doesn’t matter who scores. I just want to win the gold medal.”