Esteban Valencia, Cristian Martinez

Apr 5, 2022

Cristian Martinez of Ecuador's Universidad Catolica, left, fights for the ball with Esteban Valencia of Chile's Union La Calera during a Copa Sudamericana soccer match at Olimpico Atahualpa stadium in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

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Nov 14, 2026

S. Korea falls to Japan for 2nd straight loss at regional baseball tournament

South Korea dropped to Japan 9-5 for its second straight loss at an ongoing regional baseball tournament in Tokyo on Friday, as it failed to hold on to an early lead and got undone by long balls. South Korea surrendered four home runs in the teams' second game of the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) at Tokyo Dome, none more devastating than the go-ahead three-run bomb by Rui Muneyama in the bottom of the eighth inning. South Korea, made up of Korea Baseball Organization stars, opened the competition with an 8-7 loss to Australia on Thursday. Managed by Choi Won-ho, South Korea will next face Taiwan at 7 p.m. Saturday, while Japan will take on Australia at noon Saturday. After the completion of round-robin play, the bottom two teams will meet in the third-place match at 11 a.m. Sunday, while the top two nations will square off in the championship final at 7 p.m. Sunday. This is the third edition of the APBC. South Korea finished as the runner-up to Japan at each of the two earlier tournaments. In order to reach its third straight final, South Korea must beat Taiwan and have J

Nov 14, 2026

Coach says S. Korea must improve 'in every aspect' following loss to Saudi Arabia

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Robert Moreno, temporary head coach of the men's national football team, acknowledged Friday that South Korea must improve "in every aspect" in light of their 3-2 loss to Saudi Arabia in their latest friendly match. South Korea suffered their first loss to Saudi Arabia in a little over 21 years at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Rayyan. just west of Doha, where three different Saudi Arabian players found the back of the net. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Jae-sung each scored for South Korea in the second half but Moreno's record with the Taegeuk Warriors fell to two wins, one draw and two losses since he took the reins as caretaker manager in September. "We wanted to deliver a win for our fans and this was a disappointing outcome," Moreno said at his postmatch press conference. "I think the players in particular must have wanted to prove that they had truly become a team, but we fell short." Moreno rued some defensive breakdowns in the loss, saying, "We committed mistakes that should not be made at national team level and ended up conceding easy goals." "I think we had enough s

Nov 14, 2026

Nat'l football team submits another lackluster performance in loss to Saudi Arabia

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — The men's national football team tried to turn the page and move on from a recent controversy surrounding rift inside the locker room, as they traveled to Qatar for two friendly matches this month. In the first of those two games held Friday, though, South Korea ended up writing the same old story, as they lost to Saudi Arabia 3-2 in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha. The South Korean players were inefficient with the pressing and lacked precision and speed with their buildup plays. They did not move the ball with purpose from their own half after winning possession, while allowing their opponents to seize control with quick transition and superior individual skills. South Korea arrived in Qatar under the cloud of rumors that a handful of mainstays had not been seeing eye to eye. After a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan at home on Oct. 6, three 30-year-old veterans, Hwang In-beom, Hwang Hee-chan and Kim Min-jae, threatened to retire from international play because they were apparently not happy with the way captain Son Heung-min and his fellow 34-year-old Lee Jae-sung were runnin