Caption: Brunei's starting XI before kick off against South Korea at the 2018 AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers. Picture: Courtesy of AFC
Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI fell to their second straight defeat at the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship qualifiers with an 11-0 loss to Asian powerhouse South Korea today.
The national team were down 3-0 at halftime before the hosts shifted gears in front of their home crowd at the Puja Public Stadium.
Cho Young-woo (C) scored the opening goal for South Korea. Picture: Courtesy of AFC
Cho Young-wook broke the deadlock in the 10th minute after a towering header to beat Brunei goalkeeper Ak Muhammad Amirul Hakim Pg Zulkarnain.
They doubled their lead seven minutes later through Kim Chan before Lee Sang-jun scored off a low cross from the left at the far post just after the half hour mark.
South Korea needed only four minutes after the interval to make it 4-0 courtesy of Lee Jae-hyuk.
They continued their dominance with a brace by Cho Yong-wook in the 51st and 61st minutes.
Substitute Lee Kang-in converted a penalty in the 71st minute, after being on the field for four minutes, to make it 7-0.
South Korea scored four more goals - Jeong Ho-jin (75th), Lee Sang-jun (86th), Lim Jae-hyuk (88th) and Kim Hyun-woo (90+3) - late on to complete the rout.
Muhammad Hanif Aiman Hj Adanan of Brunei surrounded by South Korean players. Picture: Courtesy of AFC
National under-18 football coach Takao Fujiwara is looking at the positives considering the gulf in standards.
“Our defence was very compact in the first half. But physically, our opponents were stronger and had better shooting power - but we still fought and didn’t give up,” said Fujiwara.
“One positive from this match was the experience we got playing against one of Asia’s best teams,” added the Japanese.
Brunei take on Malaysia on Saturday and Timor Leste in their last Group F game next Wednesday.
