Opinion – PVC: Korea will try to impose biggest failure in 32 years on Brazil

South Korean Son, from Tottenham, collects records. He is the first Asian top scorer in the Premier League, the most expensive transfer for Bayer Leverkusen, Asia’s most valuable player of all time, for the €22m spent by the north London side.

He was the second South Korean to play in a Champions League final. The first, Park, won for Manchester United and played in the World Cup semifinals for South Korea.

Remember the song that led the hosts to eliminate Italy, in the round of 16, and Spain, in the quarterfinals, in 2002: Dae Han Min Guk!

It means South Korea.

Referees aside, they’ve gone far. Son is better than Park.

He debuted in World Cups in Brazil, when he scored a goal, against Algeria. Four years later, in Russia, he scored and eliminated Germany in the group stage. In the last two World Cups, he has a trajectory of more respect than the Germans.

Hwang, number 11, scored against Liverpool, in England, in a 4-3 defeat by Salzburg. Jurgen Klopp sweated to win. The Austrian attack had Hwang alongside the Japanese Minamino and Haaland. Each scored a goal.

Do you think that whoever plays alongside Haaland doesn’t learn anything?

Hwang is a substitute for Wolverhampton and is on the bench for Korea, but he came on and scored the qualifying goal against Portugal.

Cléber Xavier drew attention to the five changes made by Portuguese coach Paulo Bento, compared to Brazil’s 5-1 thrashing of Korea in June. They changed the sides, two midfielders and the center forward. Midfielder Hwang In, number 6, is the one who touches the ball the most. He is at Olympiacos, in Greece.

No one here is going to turn South Korea into the World Cup favourites, but if someone uses the word naive to define it, change the channel or hit the mute button.

Of the eleven participations of South Korea, this is the third in which it reaches the second phase, second with a European coach. With the Dutch Guus Hiddink, in 2002, he had more ball possession in all the matches, except against Germany, in which he had 50%. In this Cup, where control only gives victory to 35% of the teams that spend more time exchanging passes, Paulo Bento wins on the counterattack.

Brazil conceded 20 goals after the defeat to Belgium, in Kazan. There were 12 from dead balls and 4 from counter strikes. You can bet that the Portuguese coach will bet on these two possibilities.

Paulo Bento viewed and replied to my message about his time at Cruzeiro. He thanked and said he will only speak at press conferences until the end of his campaign. If he loses to Brazil, it will be his last game as coach of the South Korean national team. There are cultural conflicts, debates with managers and players.

In a way, he has already won by being in the round of 16 of the World Cup, which he did not achieve with Portugal – he fell in the group stage in 2014. After the Portuguese coaches in Brazil in the 1940s – Joreca, in São Paulo, and Cândido de Oliveira , in Flamengo– Paulo Bento opened the way back. He managed Cruzeiro for 19 games, three years before Jorge Jesus landed at Galeão.

It came out like a fiasco. This Monday, he will try to impose his biggest failure on Brazil in 32 years of World Cups.

With all the injury problems and Neymar out, unless it’s a surprise, Tite’s team is the favourite. But you need to be careful.