U23 Taeguk Warriors beat Saudi Arabia to seal first in Group D at Asian Games

The under-23 Taeguk Warriors beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 to win their group at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Tuesday.

Shin Min-ha and Kim Myeong-jun each scored in the second half of the teams' final Group D match at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Rugby Field in Nagoya, Japan.

Coached by Lee Min-sung, the side are going for a fourth straight gold medal.

Both teams had already punched their tickets to the quarterfinals before this match, by virtue of winning their openers.

Group D is the only group to have three teams, while three other groups have four nations each. With the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarters, Korea and Saudi Arabia secured the top two spots on Friday when Saudi Arabia beat Qatar 2-0 to hand them their second straight loss —ensuring that the hosts of the FIFA World Cup in 2022 would finish last.

Korea did not record their first shot until the 22nd minute and knocked on the Saudi Arabian door a few more times in the final moments of the first half.

Then in the 67th minute, Shin headed home the opening goal, with wild card Eom Ji-sung — who scored a hat trick against Qatar in the opener — providing the assist.

Kim then rounded out the scoring with his own header two minutes later for a second goal in as many matches.

As the Group D winner, Korea will take on the Group C runner-up, Vietnam, in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Rugby Field.

The semifinals will be Sept. 30 in Osaka. Both the bronze medal match and the gold medal match will be Oct. 3 at Toyota Stadium in Toyota City, east of Nagoya.

Yonhap