SOUTH Korea held their head very high as a last-gasp 2-1 goal shocked Portugal at the Qatar World Cup.
With qualification already secured, the Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal tried to maintain their all-win record in their final Group H encounter. But they were in for an unexpected result.
South Korea have yet to muster a win at this 2022 FIFA World Cup. But they registered an out-of-this-world victory to progress to the Round of 16.
It was simply unbelievable: The South Korea’s players react at the final whistle after a dramatic injury-time goal from Hwang Hee-Chan sends them through to the second round of the World Cup.
INJURY-TIME WINNER
Hwang gave South Korea the sensational injury-time victory over Portugal that meant they beat Uruguayto a last-16 place – simply on goals scored.
Hwang ran Son Heung-min‘s pass in the 91st minute to round off a counter-attack and start wild celebrations from his side’s fans in the stands.
As a result, Portugal and Uruguay enter the knockout stages from Group H, at the expense of Uruguay and Ghana.
WHO QUALIFIES
Here’s what the Round of 16 fixtures are:
Netherlands vs USA
Argentina vs Australia
France vs Poland
England vs Senegal
Japan vs Croatia
Brazil vs South Korea
Morocco vs Spain
Portugal vs Switzerland
And surely, you can sit at the edge of your seats and expect more Qatar-styled upsets.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
FINGERS will be seriously crossed for South Korea in their final Group ‘H’ match against Portugal, where a victory is crucial to make it to the quarterfinals.
On paper, Portugal is already assured of their last-16 place – but their opponents South Korea still have work to do after their upset 3-2 defeat to Ghana.
Portugal requires just one point from Friday’s game with South Korea to assure themselves of the top spot and a tie with the runners-up from Group G.
South Korea, with Tottenham striker Son Heung-min at the helm, remains still very bitter and to stand any chance of leap-frogging the African side, they must secure the three points, which may be a tall order.
KOREA GEARED UP
If Ghana and Uruguay draw, in a match happening simultaneously on Friday, South Korea will need to beat Portugal by two clear goals to advance.
In my opinion, the Koreans are simply a younger and faster team, and we don’t believe that the Portuguese have what it takes to control them over 90 minutes.
PROTESTS TO REFEREE
Coach Paulo Bento, red-carded for his aggressive protests to the referee, will now be suspended for the showdown against his native Portugal.
“It will be a loss but it will make us better, united… we will show all our qualities,” his assistant Sergio Costa said.
“We have a feeling of a lack of justice but I think we also have to be very proud of what we did. We gave our souls on the pitch.”
Now for the do-or-die clash, where they cannot afford to make a mistake to be the first Asian team here to make it to the knockout stages.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
ASIAN teams bowed out before reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
But hats out to Japan, South Korea, and Australia for putting up one of the best-ever shows ever in the history of the tournament with sizzling upsets that shocked the world.
Japan was perhaps the most unfortunate in the ‘Round of 16’ as they held Croatia to a 1-1 draw after extra time but lost out 3-1 on mandatory penalty kicks.
Australia was edged out by Argentina 2-1 while Brazil overwhelmed South Korea 4-1.
SHOCK WINS
Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu masterminded shock victories over Germany and Spain to top their group and they pushed the finalists from four years ago to penalties. But, having captured the adoration of those watching with likable fans who chant and bang their drums all game, it was another tournament that ended in heartbreak.
In 2018, they led 2-0 in the last 16 against Belgium and lost to a 94th-minute winner from Nacer Chadli. This time, they suffered agony in the shootout.
“We could not break through the round of 16 and could not see a new landscape,” Moriyasu told the media.
“We won against Germany and Spain who have been champions. The players showed a new era of Japanese football and they should use this feeling of being upset to try to win next time.”
BEST TIE
Now the England-France quarterfinal tie looks especially mouth-watering: France is ranked fourth in the world, one place above England. Didier Deschamps’ side has gone one better than they did at the last major tournament – the delayed 2020 European Championship – where they lost to Switzerland on penalties in the last 16.
A special plus-point is France having Kylian Mbappe in their attack, who leads the race for the ‘Golden Boot’ with five goals so far, two more than any other player.
Interestingly, England and France have not met in the knockout rounds of a men’s major tournament before. They have played each other 31 times, with England winning 17 to France’s nine victories. The last time they met was in a friendly in June 2017, when France was 3-2 winners.
RISING TEAM
The rising team appears to be Brazil, and as a nation, they do not lack confidence when it comes to football fortunes. For this World Cup, those form levels are sky-high, and it is clear to see why, especially after the latest rousing 4-1 win over South Korea.
Brazil is probably most Singaporeans’ favorite, too. They have progressed from each of their last seven round-of-16 matches at the World Cup, only failing to win in normal time once during this run, progressing via penalties against Chile in 2014. They were last eliminated at this stage in 1990 against Argentina.
Look at their track record: Thirteen clean sheets in 17 qualifying games this time around with an average of 2.5 goals scored per game, all against the backdrop of severe loss of life in the country resulting from a global pandemic.
Now there is unity and belief. There is harmony to the samba beat. Let’s hope they carry Brazil to the final.
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor.
WORLD Cup history is full of memorable David versus Goliath wins, dramatic comebacks and defending champions suffering embarrassing defeats, as tournament dreams are made and broken.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia memorably featured Croatia’s push to the final and holders Germany ruthlessly knocked out in the group stages.
Now Qatar 2022 offers a host of potential shocks in the Middle East, just in the first week, with the hosts featuring in their first ever World Cup, and defending African champions Senegal even tipped to be the continent’s first ever World Cup semi-finalist..
SHOCK STAGE
Now as you read this, we’re left with jaws dropping as unfancied Saudi Arabia pulls off an undescribable, unbelievable 2-1 win over Argentina. This definitely sets the stage for more biggest upsets ever and you can look ahead to more potential shock results at Qatar 2022:
But the “big boys” shouldn’t get the unnecessary shivers with the group results as Spain showed in 2010 when they lost 1-0 to Switzerland before going on to ultimate glory in South Africa.
Yet the early morale-boosters in the opening round of fixtures will be crucial for smaller nations to gain a psychological advantage at the 2022 World Cup, especially with complacency from the favourites often a key feature in their opening matches.
Looking on hindsight, isn’t this the rip-roaring beauty of World Cup Finals matches?
In my view, it’s early days yet, but the potential upsets can be expected fromQatar (world rank 48), Costa Rica (34), Ghana (50) and Saudi Arabia (51).
* Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor
The World Cup has produced other incredible surprises; while Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia is a significant setback for Lionel Messi’s team, let us share with you one of the biggest that had an impact on the victor.
A few surprises, controversies, and physical assaults against Pele—possibly the greatest player to ever live—were produced in 1966.
The surprise
But the biggest surprise came when the North Koreans beat one of the biggest teams in football at the time, the Italians, to qualify for the World Cup.
Following their shocking loss to the tiny pawns of a communist nation, the Italian team received a “tomato” welcome from their supporters.
As for the North Koreans, it was their very first appearance in the popular competition.
It happened after Fifa decided to put all African and Asian countries in one group to decide which one would qualify for the World Cup.
The Asian and African nations boycotted the elimination rounds, dissatisfied that only one of them would be selected for the competiton.
The North Koreans were left to play the Australians, and to everyone’s surprise, the North Koreans won both games and qualified for the World Cup.
After an early defeat by the Soviet Union in their group match, everybody thought the Koreans would pack their bags after meeting the Italians.
But Pak Doo-ik made history with his lone goal that shock two-time winners Italy at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough.
North Korea have only been back to the World Cup once, at South Africa 2010.
Saudi Arabian Glory
The much anticipated win by the Argentinians turned sour after the Saudis woke up in the second half, playing a very different football than what they displayed in the first half and started attacking the Argentinians.
While Messi scored their lone goal, he had one goal rejected for off-side and the Argentinian side saw another two by Lauturo Mrtinez chalked off for offside. This must have been very frustrating for them as they were leading 1-0 through Messi’s penalty in the 10th minute.
However, we believe the biggest upset in the World Cup will remain the 7-1 defeat of the mighty Brazilians against the Germans in 2014. The crushing defeat occurred on Brazilian soil and there is nothing the Brazilians can do to erase this complete bashing.
However, we are not finished with the North Korean shocker in 1966. Rumours had it that the North Korean national television station on that day played the moment the North Korean scorer netted the goal
The TV station then allegedly said North Korea had won the World Cup by beating the Italians in the final of the competition. It was time for a great celebration.
For the Saudi Arabians, this victory is also savoured as the biggest in their football annals, with the country announcing a public holiday on Wednesday.
The public holiday will be for all state employees “and the private sector, and male and female students in all educational stages”, the government announced on Tuesday evening.
Fans were seen in Qatar celebrating the victory and on YouTube, the players were also seen celebrating their first win in their opener in the World Cup.
How will the Argentinians receive Messi and his mates if they fail to qualify for round two? No tomatoes we hope.
The World Cup in Qatar has already delivered plenty of major shocks but as it moves into the knockout phase the top contenders including Brazil and France have plenty to prove.
This is the first World Cup since the South Africa tournament in 2010 in which teams from Asia, Africa and North America have all been represented in the last 16.
Brazil remain the favourites to claim a sixth World Cup and end Europe’s recent dominance on the global stage.
Tite’s side surely need Neymar back from the ankle injury he suffered in the opening win over Serbia but they have a dazzling array of attacking talent beyond the world’s most expensive footballer.
They are usually rock-solid defensively, even though a side with nine changes to the starting line-up lost their final group game against Cameroon.
Brazil have not yet faced top opposition and will expect to cruise past South Korea on Monday, with Croatia or Japan then awaiting them in the quarter-finals.
A mouthwatering showdown with Argentina in the semi-finals remains a possibility, with Lionel Messi and his teammates recovering from their shock loss to Saudi Arabia to beat Mexico and Poland.
If Messi’s team get past Australia, they could find themselves up against the Netherlands in the last eight, although the Dutch must first overcome a tough United States team.
Argentina came into the World Cup unbeaten in 36 games and with expectations high that they could win the trophy for a third time but coach Lionel Scaloni has played down their chances.
“We are not favourites,” he insisted. “We are a difficult team to beat, a team that will fight, but to think that because we won (against Poland) we are going to be champions would be totally mistaken.”
The other side of the draw is weighted towards Europe, despite elimination for Germany and Belgium.
Holders France are the team to beat and in Kylian Mbappe they have the most exciting player in the competition.
Didier Deschamps’ side eased through their group, even fielding an unrecognisable line-up in their final defeat by Tunisia as regulars were rested.
“We fulfilled our objective,” he said. “Now we will recuperate because a second competition is about to begin.”
History is not on the side of a France team looking to become the first since 1962 to successfully defend the World Cup, and they are on a possible collision course in the last eight with England.
Spain, the joint-top scorers in the group stage with England on nine goals, are also on their side of the draw.
Semi-finalists in 2018 and Euro 2020 runners-up, England are quietly growing in confidence.
“In Russia, we were just thinking, ‘Can we win a knockout game?’ Now there is more confidence and more experience of knockout matches,” said England manager Gareth Southgate.
Global game
It was German great Jurgen Klinsmann, part of FIFA’s technical study group analysing the tournament, who predicted that Qatar would produce shocks.
“If some of the kind of underdogs — maybe if it’s an African nation, if it’s an Asian team — if they are courageous I think you can go far in this tournament,” he said.
The last-16 line-up does at least reflect the global nature of football.
Japan, who have never gone further than the first knockout stage, stunned Germany and Spain and now have 2018 finalists Croatia in their sights.
South Korea have also qualified after a last-gasp winner against Portugal.
Qatar has also already been a good World Cup for Africa, with two teams in the last 16, compared with none four years ago.
Senegal, who have overcome the loss of Sadio Mane, will face England, while a talented Morocco side are living up to their billing and will have the backing of many across the Arab world when they play Spain.
Brazil are still the favourites for most, but there is a sense there are more surprises in store.
