South Korean Soccer Team's Journey at the 2019 Asian Games: Key Highlights and Results
I still vividly remember the excitement building up around the South Korean men's soccer team as they headed into the 2019 Asian Games in Indonesia. As someone who has followed Asian football for over a decade, I found myself particularly invested in this tournament - not just because of the sporting spectacle, but because of what was at stake for these young athletes. The military exemption policy for gold medal winners added an extraordinary layer of pressure that few other national teams had to contend with. Honestly, I've always found this aspect fascinating - it transforms what would normally be just another international tournament into something approaching life-or-death stakes for Korean players.
The tournament began on August 14th with South Korea placed in Group E alongside Bahrain, Malaysia, and Kyrgyzstan. What struck me most about their opening match against Bahrain was the visible tension among players who knew this might be their only chance to secure military exemption. They played with an intensity I've rarely seen in group stage matches, with Hwang Ui-jo netting a hat-trick in their 6-0 demolition. The following 2-1 victory over Malaysia showcased their resilience, coming from behind after conceding an early goal. By the time they thrashed Kyrgyzstan 5-2 in their final group match, it was clear this team had found its rhythm and was building momentum at just the right time.
I've always believed that the true test of championship teams comes in the knockout stages, and South Korea's round of 16 match against Iran on August 27th proved exactly that. This was arguably their toughest challenge - Iran's physical style had historically caused problems for Korean teams. What impressed me was how coach Kim Hak-beom's squad adapted, with Lee Seung-woo's brilliant 75th-minute goal securing a hard-fought 2-0 victory. The quarterfinal against Uzbekistan four days later took us through an emotional rollercoaster - going down early, equalizing through Hwang Hee-chan, then surviving extra time before winning 4-3 in a dramatic penalty shootout. I remember watching goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo's crucial saves and thinking this team had something special - that intangible quality you can't coach but championship teams always seem to possess.
The semifinal against Vietnam on September 1st had me genuinely concerned initially. Vietnam's surprising tournament run and organized defense frustrated the Korean attack for much of the match. But this is where experience and quality ultimately shone through, with Hwang Ui-jo's brace securing their place in the final. Throughout these knockout matches, I noticed how the team's chemistry kept improving - the understanding between midfielders Lee Seung-woo and Hwang In-beom became particularly impressive, creating numerous chances with their clever movement and passing.
When the gold medal match against Japan arrived on September 2nd, I found myself more nervous than I expected to be. The historical rivalry between these nations always adds extra spice to their encounters, but this felt different given what was at stake. The match itself was a tactical battle, with Japan taking an early lead through Yuta Nakayama in the 21st minute. What happened next demonstrated the character of this Korean team - Lee Seung-woo equalized just before halftime, and after a tense second half, Lee's brilliant extra-time winner in the 117th minute sparked wild celebrations. Watching the players embrace afterward, many with tears in their eyes, you could feel the weight lifting from their shoulders.
Reflecting on their overall performance, several statistics stand out in my memory - they scored 19 goals while conceding just 7 throughout the tournament, with Hwang Ui-jo finishing as top scorer with 9 goals. But beyond the numbers, what made this victory special was how it blended individual brilliance with collective determination. The team's average age of just 22.3 years made their composure under pressure even more remarkable. I've followed many Asian Games tournaments, but this particular Korean squad's journey stands out for how they handled the unique pressures specific to their situation.
The legacy of this victory extends beyond the gold medals. For players like Son Heung-min, who joined the squad as an overage player, this meant being able to continue his European career without interruption. For the younger players, it provided career-defining momentum that several have carried into their professional development. Personally, I believe this tournament represented a turning point for Korean football - demonstrating that their development system could produce players capable of performing under extraordinary pressure. The smiling comment from Panlilio about "We will look for one" that circulated in media reports perfectly captured the searching, determined quality this team embodied throughout their campaign. They weren't just playing for victory - they were playing for their futures, and that made their success all the more meaningful to witness.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
