World Cup: South Korea advance to round of 16 after uncertainty

Heroic South Korea! The Asian team, which finished third in their group at the start of the day with only one small point, had a big success on Friday. The Fallers of Portugal (2-1), partners of Heug-min Son, qualified for the World Cup Round of 16 in stoppage time thanks to Hwang’s goal 91 minutes into the game.

For a long time, Paulo Bento’s men thought they had said goodbye to this World Cup because of the scenario of another Group H match between Ghana and Uruguay, but found the necessary resources to finish second, equaling Celeste, but ahead thanks to better attack (4 goals). for Koreans, against 2 for Uruguayans). Portugal, having lost the competition for the first time, finished first with six points.

Twelve years after reaching this stage of the competition, the South Koreans regain their place in the final standings and replenish the contingent of qualified teams (Australia, Japan) for the 1/8 finals. This Friday evening (at 20:00) they will face the first of Group F, which should be Brazil, against Cameroon.

Like the air of 2010

However, the evening of the Koreans started very badly, because after only five minutes of the game, Selesao in the reorganized line-up opened the scoring thanks to Ricardo Horte. Young-Gwon Kim equalized in the 27th minute from a corner, which is synonymous with qualifying. The joy was short-lived as at the same time Uruguay took the lead thanks to two goals from Georgian de Arrascaet (26th, 32nd) on the hard work of the indefatigable Luis Suarez.

This remake of the historic 2010 World Cup clash, marked by Luis Suarez’s leisurely hand and Gyan Asamoah’s missed penalty, could have turned out differently. In the 20th minute of the game, the Black Stars earned a penalty after goalkeeper Roche’s foul on Mohamed Kudus, which was one of the revelations of this World Cup. But captain André Ayew, already playing for the national team of Ghana twelve years ago, missed with his left foot, which the Uruguayan goalkeeper crushed too much and took to the side.

The weight of history and this episode that marked this choice forever may have rested on the shoulders of the former Olympique de Marseille player. Ghana went down in history with this failure, as no team conceded two penalties against the same opponent in the World Cup. Ayew wanted to succeed by choosing to take on his responsibilities, but the consequences were dire for Ghana, which was sanctioned and could dream of qualifying if they won.

Uruguay, failing to show a correct game in the first two games (0 goals), considered that they delayed this start of the competition, but the Koreans’ refusal was rewarded at the end of the suspense. Waiting for the outcome of another meeting, the Koreans could shed tears of joy that contrasted with the tears of grief of Luis Suarez.