The duel next Monday (5), at the 974 stadium, in Doha, will be the first between Brazil and South Korea in a World Cup. Opponents in the round of 16, the teams have never faced each other in the main soccer competition on the planet.
The most recent clash was anything but balanced. In one of the preparatory friendlies for the Qatar World Cup, held on June 2, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, in Seoul, the hosts were beaten by the five-time world champions: 5-1.
Richarlison, Neymar (2), Philippe Coutinho (who was not called up for the Cup) and Gabriel Jesus scored for the national team. Hwang Ui-jo found the back of the net for the South Koreans, who had extreme difficulty with the opponent’s pressure on their ball output.
“We made silly mistakes in the defensive process. This gave them opportunities to create more opportunities than they should have created. Playing against this type of opponent, you need to be more effective in the defensive field. And you need to be more aggressive”, said Paulo Bento.
The 53-year-old Portuguese has experience in Brazilian football. A former player with a solid career in the national team of his country, he established his coaching career with Sporting and the national team of Portugal before joining Cruzeiro in 2016.
There were only 17 matches ahead of the Minas Gerais club, with six wins, three draws and eight defeats. Fired, he worked at Olympiacos, Greece, went through Chongqing Dangdai, China, and took over South Korea in 2018.
The Asian formation started the World Cup in a goalless draw with Uruguay. Afterwards, the defense presented problems again, in the 3-2 defeat to Ghana that left it in a difficult situation.
In the final round of Group H, Bento’s well-known opponent was Portugal. The Lusitanians adopted a formation full of reserves and took the lead. Kim Young-gwon scored the equalizer in the first half. In stoppage time for the second, Hwang Hee-Chan turned.
The move that defined the score – and left South Korea ahead of Uruguay in terms of goals scored – had a precise pass by Son Heung-min. The striker is the big name of the team and was thrilled with the sweaty classification.
“I’ve waited so long for this moment,” he said, standing on the edge of the lawn, in tears. “I was captain, but I didn’t play as well as I had hoped. I was grateful that the other players made up for my deficiencies. I’m very proud of them.”
Son’s participation in the Worlds came to be questioned. A little over a month ago, in a match for Tottenham in the Europa League, the player suffered a fracture in his face. He underwent surgery and has been performing with a protective mask.
With it, despite his modesty, he helped include South Korea in the Round of 16 of the Cup for the third time, repeating the 2010 campaign. with fourth place.
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