The numerous rotations did not work in Portugal and on the last day of the group stage they were defeated by a more ambitious South Korea with infinite faith to work another miracle in Qatar. The Asian national team showed enormous pride and came from behind against the Portuguese with a goal in the 90th minute that gave them qualification and, incidentally, eliminated Uruguay. The Korean suffering lasted beyond their game, during the eight added minutes that the other group game lasted.
Twelve years later, South Korea is back in the round of 16, joining Japan as the only other Asian team to do so. The way to achieve it has also been similar, after beating the leader of the group until the last day. The classification of both is a milestone that had only occurred in the World Cup that both countries organized in 2002, in which the Koreans were fourth.
Despite the many rotations, Portugal was superior for much of a very open match and with alternatives for both, but the final thrust of Paulo Bento's men was decisive. The one who did not rotate in the selection of the quinas was Cristiano Ronaldo, eager for prominence in his last World Cup. The one from Madeira became the negative protagonist of the afternoon by giving away a goal to South Korea with a somewhat implausible 'espaldinha'. It was not Cristiano's day, when he was replaced he again showed his discontent with his coach.
The team built by Fernando Santos showed enormous versatility to be better on points in the first half than a Korea that wanted to insurrection. The government of the party at the beginning belonged to the dominator of the group and he soon asserted it on the scoreboard. Before the fifth minute, Ricardo Horta, João Félix's replacement, took advantage of Dalot's brilliant run down the right to score the first goal.
It was only worth beating South Korea to be in the round of 16. That is why after the goal they began to look more intentionally for the Portuguese goal, although almost always in quick transitions. Before half an hour came the equalizer from a corner. The lateral center hit Cristiano Ronaldo in the back, little involved in defensive tasks, and Kim took advantage of it to beat Diogo Costa inside the area.
Riding the talent of Heung-Min Son, Korea would never give up despite the fact that Portugal arrived more and better. Goalkeeper Kim denied Vitinha the goal after a shot from the edge. In the continuation Cristiano sent the ball wide. Far from his best moment, the man from Madeira was erratic in his delivery and failed in front of the rival goal, and in the second half he left angrily after an afternoon to forget.
In the final stretch of the match, Portugal stopped playing in three quarters of the rival field and Korea, more in need, took a step forward. Thus came a shot from Hwang from the front. And when the 90th minute was over, the miracle took place. Son picked up the ball on the edge of his box and ran across the field to assist Hwang, who came on free. A goal that blew up the group, eliminated double champion Uruguay and made 51 million Koreans cry with joy.
2 - South Korea: Kim Seung-Gyu; Kim Moon-Hwan, Kwon Kyung-Won, Kim Young-Gwon (Son Jun-Ho, m.81), Kim Jin-Su, Hwang In-Beom, Jung Woo-Young, Lee Kang-In (Hwang Ui-Jo, Lee Jae-Sung (m.81), Lee Jae-Sung (m.65), Son Heung-Min and Cho Gue-Sung (m.93).
1 - Portugal: Diogo Costa, Dalot, Pepe, Antonio Silva, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Neves (Rafael Leao m.65), Matheus Nunes (Palhinha, m.65), Vitinha (William Carvalho, m.82), Joao Mario ( Bernardo Silva, m.82), Ricardo Horta and Cristiano Ronaldo (Andre Silva, m.65).
Goles: 0-1, M.5: Ricardo Horta. 1-1, M.27: Kim Young-Gwon. 2-1, M.91: Hwang Hee-Chan.
Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina). He admonished Lee Kang-In (m.36) and Hwang Hee-Chan (m.92).
Incidents: Match of the third day of group H played at the Ciudad de la Educación stadium before 44,097 spectators.
