Coach Lee Min-seong, who achieved his fourth consecutive men's soccer title at the Asian Games, gives credit to his players.

(Toyota [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-ah = Coach Lee Min-seong, who achieved four consecutive men's soccer titles at the Asian Games, gave credit for the victory to his players.

The U-23 national team led by Coach Lee defeated Japan 1-0 in the men's soccer final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 3rd, with Uhm Um-seong (Swansea City)'s winning goal in the 16th minute of the second half.

At a press conference after the game, coach Lee said, "I would like to first say sorry to the players. I did not receive much attention because of me as the coach, but I am grateful to the players who achieved a gold medal despite difficult conditions."

He added, “There was a lot of pressure due to the pressure of the finals and military service issues, but the reason for the victory was that all the players persevered and persevered.”

As a result, Korean soccer set a record of winning the men's soccer championship four times in a row for the first time in Asian Games history, following Incheon in 2014, Jakarta and Palembang in 2018, and Hangzhou 2022 in 2023.

The process of winning was not smooth.

Coach Lee, who took office in May of last year, was criticized for finishing fourth in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup earlier this year after being defeated by Vietnam.

During this tournament, concerns were constantly raised about the team's performance, such as giving up the first goal to China in the semifinals and losing 2-1.

Coach Lee said, “We were criticized for performance issues, but I think we achieved our goal because the result was the most important thing in this competition.”

Before the competition, he pledged to “restore Korean soccer with a gold medal,” and added, “I think a lot of the players on this national team have made it to the national team A and have laid the foundation to lead Korean soccer to a leap forward.”

Meanwhile, Coach Lee will step down from leadership of the U-23 national team after this tournament.

The Korea Football Association originally planned to leave Coach Lee in charge until the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics, but considering the Olympic preparation schedule, they decided to split the command tower. The LA Olympic team is led by coach Kim Eun-joong, who took office last May.

After completing all his duties, Director Lee left the press conference in a relaxed mood, receiving applause from reporters.