South Korea’s under-24 (U-24) soccer team midfielder스포츠토토 Koh Yeong-jun (Pohang Steelers), who was substituted out due to an injury during the evaluation match against China, was diagnosed with a ligament rupture in his right knee.

On the 19th, Ko Young-jun started the second match against China held at Xinhua Stadium in Zhejiang Province, China. 

In the 9th minute of the second half, Ko Young-joon, who was on the ground, was rushing near the Chinese side’s penalty box and tripped over Wu Sao-chung’s foot and fell and his body was crushed. 

Ko Young-joon, who was lying on the pitch complaining of pain, was eventually replaced by Lee Jae-ik (Seoul E-Land) one minute later.

On the 21st, an official from Pohang told News 1, “After Ko Young-joon returned to Korea yesterday, he went to the hospital today and was diagnosed with a partial rupture of the medial ligament of the right knee joint.”

An official said, “The hospital is in the position that recovery is needed for up to a month,” but expected that “depending on the degree of rehabilitation, the time to return will be slightly delayed.”

Previously, the U-24 national team led by coach Hwang Seon-hong (55) had two evaluation matches with China on the 15th and 19th to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Jinhua Stadium, where the match took place, is one of the stadiums where the men’s soccer match of this tournament is held.

However, China consistently showed a rough appearance in both games as if they were in the main tournament, which eventually led to injuries to Korean players.

In the first game, striker Um Won-sang (Ulsan) suffered a serious injury in which his right ankle was bent due to a rough tackle by a Chinese player. He was diagnosed with ankle ligament damage at a local hospital and returned home early. In the second game, along with Go Young-jun, striker Jo Young-wook (Kim Cheon) suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced.

In addition, Jung Woo-yeong (Freiburg) and Ko Jae-hyeon (Daegu) were not injured, but faced dangerous moments such as complaining of pain after being knocked down by Chinese players aiming for their ankles.