The fearsome striker Son Heung-min wants his team from South Korea to achieve “another miracle” and beat Brazil on Monday (5) in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar-2022, after the miraculous classification with a goal in stoppage time against Portugal.
The South Koreans’ permanence in the competition seemed to be over on Friday, at the close of Group H, until Hwang Hee-chan, who had entered during the match, appeared in the final stretch (46 min) to score the winning goal for 2 to 1 over already classified Portugal.
With that goal in the last moments, and hoping after the end of the field that Uruguay did not score the third goal against Ghana, which would give Celeste a place, the South Koreans ended up advancing to the detriment of the South Americans thanks to the greater number of goals scored (4 against 2), as both ended with the same number of points (4) and goal difference (0).
“We don’t surrender,” Son celebrated.
“I think we got the result we wanted because we worked a lot. In 2014 we also worked hard, but luck was not on our side and we didn’t advance to the round of 16”, recalls the Tottenham striker, top scorer in the last Premier League.
According to the “masked” Son, South Korea is not yet ready to go home. “Qualifying for the Round of 16 was our goal and now we have bigger goals to achieve, so we’ll do our best. Nobody knows what can happen in the Round of 16.”
The South Korean idol plays with a protective mask on his face because he underwent surgery for a fracture in the orbit of his left eye suffered in early November in a Champions League match and left him in doubt until the last moment.
“That’s great, but our tournament is not over,” he reiterated. “I hope we can write another miracle.”
Son assisted Hwang for the miraculous qualifying goal after a speedy breakthrough and an assist between the legs of a Portuguese defender.
“Before the game, Son Heung-min told me that he would do something today, that he trusted me and when he controlled the ball, he was convinced that he would pass it to me and it was a great assist. He made my job easier,” said Hwang Hee-chan .
Memories of 2002
Meanwhile, in South Korea, parallels are starting to be established between the current team and the one that played in the 2002 World Cup, which was co-organized with Japan.
Twenty years ago, the Asian Tigers surprised the world by reaching the semi-finals after controversial refereeing that favored them against Italy in the round of 16 and Spain in the quarter-finals.
In the 2002 semi-finals, South Korea were stopped by Germany, who beat them 1-0 with a Michael Ballack goal.
“I can’t compare (the two teams) because I saw the 2002 World Cup on TV and I didn’t know them personally,” said South Korea assistant coach Sergio Costa, who replaced the suspended Paulo Bento against Portugal.
“I’ve seen some games from the past, but I can’t make a comparison because I didn’t know the Korean team back then,” he said.
And he added: “I can say what it is now: a very honest team”. Who now wants to keep dreaming and points to favorite Brazil.
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