Table of Contents
Introduction
South Korea Soccer Team Lineups against Portugal Soccer Team: South Korea dramatically reached the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup, scoring goals after Hee-Chan Hwang struck a 91st-minute winner to beat Portugal 2-1 in Al Rayyan.
Portugal, already qualified for the last 16 and needing only a draw to be sure of top spot in the group, grabbed the lead with a fifth-minute goal from Ricardo Horta, who met a Diogo Dalot cross and hammered it home from close range.
Player ratings
South Korea: Seung-Gyu Kim (6), Moon-Hwan Kim (6), Kyung-Won Kwon (6), Young-Gwon Kim (7), Jin-Su Kim (7), Jung, In-Beom Hwang (6), Kang-In Lee (6), Jae-Sung Lee (5), Heung-Min Son (7), Gue-Sung Cho (6).
Portugal: Costa (6), Dalot (8), Pepe (6), Silva (7), Joao Cancelo (7), Matheus Luiz (6), Neves (7), Vitinha (7), Joao Mario (6), Ronaldo (6), Ricardo Horta (7).
Man of the match: Diogo Dalot.
Significant Moments in the Game
- 5 min: Portugal grabs the lead with a fifth-minute goal from Ricardo Horta.
- 27 min: Korea equalizes off a corner with Kim pouncing on a bouncing ball in the goalmouth and hooking it into the net.
- 44 min: Horta swivels and shoots straight at Seung-Gyu Kim.
- 65 min: Ronaldo, Neves, and Nunes come off in a triple switch for Portugal. Andre Silva, Leao and Palhinha replace them.
- 90+1 min: Son Heung-min runs free after a Portugal corner in added time and slips a pass to Hwang Hee-chan to score.
Team news
Captain Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal’s attack against South Korea at the World Cup on Friday despite having to train separately from the rest of the team this week. Still, Fernando Santos made six changes to the side that beat Uruguay .
Portugal, needing only a draw to ensure the top spot in Group H and mindful of the risk of yellow-card suspensions in the next Round, brought Diogo Dalot and Antonio Silva into the defense.
Matheus Nunes, Vitinha, and Joao Mario come into the midfield in place of Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho, and Bruno Fernandes – who scored twice in the 2-0 win over Uruguay – while Ricardo Horta replaces Joao Felix up front.
South Korea’s Portuguese coach Paulo Bento left out central defender Kim Min-jae, who was an injury doubt, and replaced him with Kwon Kyung-won, while Lee Jae-sung and Lee Kang-in were drafted into midfield.
South Korea are staring elimination from the World Cup in the face as they prepare for their final game of Group H. They kept Uruguay’s attacking players quiet, but they weren’t compelling enough in front of the goal.
They will have targeted Ghana as a beatable team with a point on the board, but they left themselves with too much to do against the Black Stars. Mohammed Kudus and Cho Gue-Seng traded a pair of goals each, but Mohammed Salisu’s opener decided the match’s outcome would leave the Koreans in trouble.
South Korea vs Ghana Result:
Portugal has already done enough to secure safe passage to the last 16. An exciting, close-run victory against Ghana preceded a more professional 2-0 win against Uruguay, and there is, subsequently, not much riding on this game for Santos’ side.
All the talk coming into the World Cup was about Ronaldo, but Bruno Fernandes has put his nation on his back. He has two goals and two assists after two games; if Portugal goes far, he could be the favorite for the Golden Ball.
Fernandes double secures progression for Portuguese.
A familiar sight to see a goalkeeper diving the wrong way for a Fernandes penalty (Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Players carrying yellow cards
South Korea: Cho Gue-sung, Jung Woo-young, Kim Young-gwon.
Portugal: Danilo Pereira, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Neves, Joao Felix, Ruben Dias.
What’s at stake?
The only thing they are playing for for Portugal is top spot in Group H. A win or draw will automatically confirm that, but they could also win the group with a defeat if Ghana doesn’t beat Uruguay in the other game.
Meanwhile, it looks pretty bleak for South Korea. Firstly, they have a win to have a chance of progression.
However, that alone won’t see them through. They must better Uruguay’s result if Ghana loses or overturn the goal difference to Ghana if the other game ends in a draw.
Portugal finish top but lose record – Opta stats
- South Korea &’s Young-Gwon Kim scores their equalizer
- Kim’s goal was his second in World Cup matches following a strike against Germany in 2018
- Portugal lost a World Cup game in which they opened the scoring for the very first time (P18 W15 D3 before today), while Korea Republic won a World Cup game in which they conceded first for the first time since 2006 against Togo (winless in 10 such matches before today).
- Korea Republic has progressed beyond the first round group stage at the World Cup for just a third time (also in 2002 & 2010) in their 11th appearance at the tournament.
- Despite today’s defeat, Portugal finished at the top of their World Cup group (first Round only) for a third time, in 1966 and 2006 (reaching the semi-final at both tournaments).
- Portugal is the only side the Korean Republic has beaten twice at the World Cup.
- Korea Republic’s Portuguese manager Paulo Bento has become the first manager to win a World Cup game against a country he’s from since Milovan Rajevac in 2010 (Ghana 1-0 Serbia).
What does the result mean?
Portugal players celebrate after scoring inside three minutes. After Ricardo Horta gave them the lead, Portugal looked on course for a third win.
Portugal tops the group with six points while South Korea joins them, having finished second in Group H. Uruguay is eliminated despite their victory over Ghana.
Conclusion
South Korea stunned Portugal with a late goal, as they defeated the Cristiano Ronaldo-led side 2-1 to enter the Round of 16 stage on Friday. On the other hand, Uruguay beat Ghana 2-0 but failed to make it to the knockouts as South Korea entered the Round of 16 due to the goal difference.
Also Read