The match between 1st place Korea Rep. and 2nd Japan in the EAST ASIAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 Final Competition was hard fought and ended in a 1-1 draw. This result meant Korea Rep. held on to the lead but had to wait for DPR Korea to loss the second match of the day to China PR 1-3 to claim their second title in a row.

This was the “final” since whichever team won the match would win the title and the match began with both teams positively trying to attack the other’s goal. In the 3rd minute Korea Rep.’s LEE Jong Min’s right side cross was met by a shot from captain KIM Nam Il. Japan on the other hand combined short passes to get forward effectively. But despite this it was Korea Rep. who got the game going. In the 15th minute PARK Won Jae received a pass on the left from CHO Won Hee and put the ball back across the field. YEOM Ki Hun was waiting in the box and skillfully clotted into the left of the goal with his left foot. Korea Rep. strike first.
For Japan it was a win or nothing and they soon began to attack back. But in the 17th minute NAKAMURA Kengo shot from the top of the box slammed into the right post and away from goal. Korea Rep. captain KIM Nam Il controlled the mid-filed and pressured Japan’s short passing game cutting out passes before it could be played to the attackers and starting counter attacks from there. The two up front for Korea Rep. CHO Jin Soo and YEOM Ki Hun powered ahead in an attempt to increase their lead. In the 44th minute Japan‘s UCHIDA Atsuto and YAMASE Koji played a 1-2 on the right which resulted in UCHIDA being 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper. But he read the move and cut out any danger before it resulted in a goal.

Korea Rep. who came out of half time 1-0 ahead, switched play in the 50th minute through OH Jang Eun, LEE Jong Min put in a cross. KWAK Tae Hwi charged in from the far side and got his header on goal. Then in the 60th minute from a free kick opportunity KANG Min Soo came close to scoring as the half progressed well for them. Japan needed to score 2 goals to win and took off volante defender NAKAMURA for 20 year old YASUDA Michihiro. YASUDA’s dribbling from the right changed the momentum of the game and created chances. In the 68th minute ENDO Yasuhito’s right corner kick found UCHIDA in the middle before YAMASE ‘s excellent right footed drive made it 1-1.
One goal would decide the tournament and the match lifted intensity again. Japan tried to get in behind the Korea Rep. defense and NAKAZAWA Yuji came close. In an attempt to get one more goal, Japan brought on 2 more forwards YANO Kisho and BANDO Ryuji right near the end but nothing significant came of this and the 2 minutes of extra time came to an end. The match finished 1-1 with Korea Rep. protecting their lead.
The match following this between China PR and DPR Korea was won by China PR meaning that Korea Rep. were crowned champions for the second time.

Having survived a Japanese onslaught and been crowned champions for the second time Korea Rep. head coach HUH Jung Moo said happily “We delivered a fighting performance based on domestic club players only since our overseas players were unavailable”. On the other hand the Japanese head coach OKADA Takesho was disappointed, saying “We came here to win the title so we are disappointed to be leaving without it. Today’s game showed this teams inexperience”.