Incheon United secured a comprehensive 3-goal victory over Chengdu Football Association and will face the Chinese team aiming for a fifth consecutive win tomorrow.

Reported by Zuo Ruifa from Dingnan, Jiangxi Following a day of rest, the inaugural “462 Cup” Korea-China Youth Football Elite Challenge resumed on the 16th. In the fifth round game concluded in the morning, undefeated Incheon United triumphed 3-0 over Chengdu Football Association, sitting second in the standings, only one point shy of first-place Seongnam FC, continuing their pursuit of the title.

Looking at the starting lineup, Incheon United is preparing for the intense schedule and fierce competition in the championship group. Two Korean U15 national players, Kim Heo-ran and Liu Can-yong, did not play, with the captain’s armband handed to number 19 Lee Yoo-jun. Despite this, they maintained clear dominance in overall control and local battles against Chengdu Football Association.

In the 22nd minute, Lee Yoo-jun made a lateral pass from midfield, and number 32 Park Jun-ho scored a stunning long-range goal from 30 meters out. After conceding, Chengdu Football Association immediately made substitutions, but the passive situation did not improve significantly. Incheon United ended the first half leading 1-0. In the 44th minute, Lee Yoo-jun fired a long-range shot from outside the penalty area to score again; one minute later, number 25 Huang Futai expanded the lead to 3-0 after entering the box. Seeing the outcome decided, Incheon United substituted five players, including Lee Yoo-jun, in one go.

In the final stage, Chengdu Football Association created two close-range shooting chances through frontcourt counter-pressing, but one shot missed the far post and another was saved by the goalkeeper. After the match, head coach Li Gang admitted the team performed poorly this round and showed less fighting spirit than before. “Our two conceded goals were caused by lack of concentration and insufficient decisiveness in responding after noticing the problems.”

With this, Chengdu Football Association has completed two Korea-China confrontations in the first phase. Compared to the second round victory over HSFA Hwaseong, Li Gang believes Incheon United’s on-field performance is more mature and sophisticated, with more advanced tactics and techniques. “Their attack has standout players on both wings and center, the back passes and support in defense are well-organized, and the passing among the three center-backs is faster and smoother.” He said Incheon United’s fitness and transitions are better, which happen to be weaknesses of Chengdu Football Association’s U15 team.

Next, Li Gang’s team still holds a slim hope to advance to the championship group as one of the top four Chinese teams. They plan to rotate the lineup in the sixth round according to player fatigue, aiming to finish the first phase with a victory. Meanwhile, Incheon United, unbeaten in the first five rounds and having won one match by penalty shootout (penalty win counts for 2 points, penalty loss 1 point), ranks second with 14 points. Their match on the 16th against Guangdong Mingtou, who also have a penalty shootout win and the same points, will be crucial for this Korean powerhouse targeting the title.

Achieving a 3-goal win while preserving strength made Incheon United’s head coach Midal Park very pleased. “In this game, our personnel arrangements and tactical demands were executed as planned, and we secured the desired 3 points. We know tomorrow’s match will be tougher, so we made sufficient rotations in today’s starting lineup.”

It is reported that between consecutive wins over Evergrande Football School and Zhejiang FC, Midal Park has attended Guangdong Mingtou’s matches twice. “Guangdong Mingtou is a strong and well-organized team, but since we are here to compete for the championship, we must give our all in tomorrow’s game.”