South Korea’s under-24 players are preparing for the biggest game of their careers on Saturday, but standing between Asian Games gold and military exemption is traditional foe Japan.

The Asian Games, being staged in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a year later than scheduled due to China’s strict pandemic lockdown policies in 2022, has brought the two rivals together in the final for the second successive tournament.

“We absolutely have to win that match. No questions asked,” South Korea coach Hwang Sun-hong said. “We will pour everything we have into winning that match.”

All male gold medal winners at the Asian Games are, by South Korean law, granted exemptions from the 18 to 21 months of military service that all able-bodied men must start by the time they turn 28. Olympic medals are also enough.

At the 2018 Asian Games, Son Heung-min led the team to gold, defeating Japan in the final, earning him the right to stay at English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur, a year before he would have had to return home.

The focus this time is on Lee Kang-in. The midfielder signed for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer but is now in China. Injury meant the 22-year-old arrived late and has been used, so far, sparingly by coach Hwang.

“It’s not up to me whether I play the full 90 minutes or not. It’s up to the coach,” Lee, who played 30 minutes in the 2-0 win over host China in the quarterfinal and one hour in the 2-1 semifinal victory over Uzbekistan on Wednesday, said.

“I am not disappointed at all about my playing time,” Lee, who also plays for the senior national team, said. “It doesn’t matter how many minutes I play in the next one. I just want to win the gold medal here.”

As the team’s major creative force, Lee is set to start the final. The meeting with Japan is a repeat of the 2018 final when South Korea won 2-1 after extra time.

Since then however, Japanese soccer has been in the ascendancy and, at senior level, has defeated South Korea 3-0 in the last two meetings. That was the same score line when the two nations met in the final of the Asian U-17 Cup earlier this year.

In October, Japan won 4-1 in Germany, the latest in a string of impressive results while South Korea has been struggling under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann, winning just one of six games this year.

Japan has already defeated Korean opposition at the Asian Games. At the end of the 2-1 victory over North Korea in the quarterfinal, during which Japan’s players had been on the receiving end of some physical challenges, opponents clashed with the referee.

“This match was as we expected,” Japan coach Go Oiwa said. “ I think the most important thing is that we were able to finish the match without any serious injuries to our players.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer