As familiar opponents, U23 Japan and U23 Korea have met three times in the history of previous AFC U23 Championships. The most notable match between them was the final in 2016, when U23 Japan reversed the score and won 3-2 after being led 0-2.
Sato is the most outstanding player of U23 Japan in this year's tournament. The FC Tokyo midfielder scored 3 goals after only 4 shots hitting the goal. In addition, he also had 2 assists and 8 passes creating breakthroughs for his teammates.
Sato said: "We are very happy to advance to the semi-finals. All the players are very determined and each of us has prepared very well for the next challenge, which we must overcome to reach the final.
Scoring is my hobby, but my strength is that I can do both. I like playing football and participating in goals, but in the end, the most important thing is playing for the team.
Playing in the attacking midfielder position, Sato is likely to face center-back Lee Hyun-yong directly, a key player in the journey to the semi-finals of U23 Korea.
In addition to playing solid defense with 16 successful clearances, 10 ball recalls, Lee also scored 1 goal (in the match against U23 Lebanon) and assisted 1 goal (in the quarter-final match against U23 Australia). Before the semi-final match with U23 Japan, the center-back of U23 Korea shared: "Every time we play against U23 Japan, there is a saying that we can't even lose to them in prison games, so we will try our best.
U23 Japan has very good and skillful technique.Therefore, we need to play as a team, coordinate rhythmically.If we can do that, we can score two or three goals.
We have shown confidence in the quarter-finals, something we did not do in the group stage.This will help us in the match against U23 Japan.
The U23 Japan vs U23 Korea match will take place at 6:30 PM on January 20.
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