Named as one of the favorites, the South Koreal suffered, but advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup! After a 1-1 draw in extra time, the South Koreans won the Saudi Arabia 4-2 on penalties, this Tuesday (30), at the Cidade da Educação Stadium.
The highlight was goalkeeper HW JO, who caught Al-Najei and Ghareeb’s shots and guaranteed qualification for the next knockout stage.
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Now, the Korean team will face Australia qualifying for a place in the semi-final. The match will be played on Friday (2), at 12:30 pm (Brasília time), at Al Janoub.
The 1st half was quite truncated and with few opportunities for both sides. Despite having more possession of the ball at the start of the game, Saudi were unable to create any effective chances. From the 20th minute onwards, Korea threw themselves more into the attacking field. Son, Tottenham’s star, wasted a good opportunity at 26, when he received a throw in excellent conditions, but ended up shooting weakly. The best scoring chance of the first half came from the Saudis, from a corner kick, at 40. In the shot, Saleh al Shehri headed the crossbar, and on the rebound, Ali lajami hit the post once again.
The Saudis came back with everything for the final stage. Abdullah Radif, who had just replaced Shehri, needed just 40 seconds to score. He received it alone in the area and hit a cross into the back of the net.
However, after that, South Korea took control of the match and continued to press on to force a draw, which would take the decision to extra time. And he did it!
In stoppage time, Cho Gue-sung, with a header, left everything the same for Korea.
In extra time, the Korean team was superior, but did not convert the chances into goals. In penalties, goalkeeper HW JO shone when he saved Al-Najei’s shots and Ghareeb was the hero of the South Koreans’ classification.
Son celebrates Korea’s Asian Cup qualification Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Check out all the classifieds:
Tajikistan, Jordan, Australia and South Korea are qualified for the next phase. The last two places will be decided this Wednesday (31). Iran faces Syria, at 1 pm (Brasília time), at Abdullah Bin Khalifa. While the Bahrain team faces Japan, at 8:30 am (Brasília time), at Al Thumama.
The quarter-finals will be played between the 2nd and 3rd of February, the semi-finals between the 6th and 7th and the big decision of the Asian Cup will take place on the 10th, at 12pm (Brasília time), at the Lusail National Stadium.