North Korean coach, O Thae Song admitted that his team was nervous before winning 6-0 over the Indonesian U-17 National Team in the quarter-finals of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup, Monday (14/4/2025).
According to Song, the nervousness arose not without reason. The reason is referring to the good record in the group phase, the team coached by Nova Arianto swept all the wins, including defeating South Korea and qualifying as group winners.
“The team was a little nervous against Indonesia because they won all the matches in the group phase,” said Song as quoted from the official AFC website.
“But we became more confident as the match progressed.”
The confidence of the North Korean players is thought to have emerged because of the quick goal scored by Choe Song Hun in the seventh minute. The goal increased the confidence of the North Korean players.
The pressing and disciplined play of the North Korean players also made it difficult for the Indonesian U-17 National Team players to control the game. In addition, North Korea is also good at taking advantage of opportunities from dead ball situations.
As a result, after scoring two goals in the first half, North Korea added four more goals against the Indonesian U-17 National Team in the second half. The Garuda Asia Team goalkeeper, Dafa Al Gasemi, also had to pick up the ball six times from his goal.
Not only coach Song, the substitute striker for the North Korean U-17 national team, Pak Ju Won, also admitted that he was surprised to be able to score a goal against the Indonesian U-17 National Team even though he had only been on the field for three minutes.
Pak Ju Won had never been played by coach O Thae Song throughout the group phase. Pak Ju Won’s debut at the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup was then quite sweet. The reason is, the Pyongyang International Football School striker only needed three minutes to score a goal.
In the semifinals, North Korea is waiting for Uzbekistan in a match that will take place on Thursday (17/4/2025). The winner of this match will face the winner of the other semifinal match between Saudi Arabia vs South Korea in the final of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup.
Image source: kompas.com
