Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
The second installment of the-afc.com’s look back at previous AFC Asian Cup revisits 1960 when Korea Republic once again emerged victorious.
Korea Republic, the first reigning champions, had home advantage in the defence of their continental crown when the second edition of the AFC Asian Cup took place at the Hyochang Stadium in Seoul, a facility built specifically for the tournament.
Three participants in the four-team round robin competition were making their second Asian Cup appearance with the hosts joined by Israel and South Vietnam, who advanced as winners of the Western and Central qualifying zones respectively.
Chinese Taipei (known then as Republic of China) ensured there would not be a full house of participants from the inaugural AFC Asian Cup when they defeated Hong Kong 7-4 in the Eastern Zone qualifiers held in the Philippines.
The Koreans continued the 1960 finals from where they left off in 1956, firing five goals past South Vietnam to register a 5-1 victory in the tournament curtain raiser.
Cho Yoon-ok got the tournament’s first goal with 20 minutes played before Woo Sang-kwon – who scored twice in the Koreans’ 5-3 win over the Vietnamese in the 1956 finals – made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute.
Choi Jung-min, another scorer in the previous meeting between the two sides four years earlier, scored the home side’s third six minutes into the second half. Moon Jung-sik made it 4-0 in the 61st minute before Cho netted his second and Korea’s fifth on 71 minutes, after Nguyen Van Tu had pulled one back for South Vietnam.
Korea Republic strengthened their grip on the Asian Cup three days later with a 3-0 defeat of Israel.
Cho opened the scoring in the 17th minute and after Woo doubled the lead on the half-hour mark, Cho sealed the 3-0 win in the 60th minute with his fourth of the campaign that ultimately saw him emerge as the 1960 AFC Asian Cup’s top scorer.
The Republic of China (Chinese Taipei) began their title quest with a 3-1 win over South Vietnam whose tournament then ended with a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Israel. That match saw Nahum Stelmach score his fifth AFC Asian Cup goal having netted a tournament best four at the inaugural competition four years earlier.
The way the results had gone meant that Korea Republic would win the AFC Asian Cup for a second time if they could beat the Republic of China (Chinese Taipei) in the penultimate matchday, with the 1958 Asian Games champions set to play their final game against Israel two days later.
And in a closely-fought encounter it was Moon’s 54th minute goal that separated the two sides and gave the Koreans their second AFC Asian Cup title, while the Republic of China (Chinese Taipei) had to ultimately settle for third place after losing by an identical 1-0 scoreline to Israel on the final day.