South Korean players celebrate their 4-2 win over Saudi Arabia in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Jan. 30, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — With his voice hoarse and having the look of an emotionally exhausted man, South Korea head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he was “very, very proud” of his team for rallying past Saudi Arabia at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar on Tuesday.
Trailing 1-0 with the clock ticking down in the round of 16 match, South Korea pulled even during second half stoppage time with Cho Gue-sung’s header. After a fruitless extra time, goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo rose to the occasion in the penalty shootout, making two saves en route to a 4-2 win at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha.
“We feel very, very proud of this team that believed in coming back the whole game,” Klinsmann said. “It was drama. This team went better and better. We should have scored earlier. At least we won the penalty shootout. This team is fantastic. They deserved this win.”
Abdullah Radif had the match’s first goal for Saudi Arabia less than a minute into the second half, but it was all South Korea the rest of the way.
Cho struck the crossbar once before scoring his equalizer, and South Korea wasted a few more opportunities during extra time, only to be denied by goalkeeper Ahmed Al-Kassar.
The penalty shootout is usually a nerve-wracking time for teams, but it wasn’t the case for South Korea, Klinsmann said.
And it showed, with all four South Korean kickers converting their shots and Jo delivering two crucial stops.
“We were prepared for the penalty shootout. We trained for penalties,” Klinsmann said. “We were mentally prepared for it. It was wonderful to see all four execute it calmly and precisely. We absolutely deserved to win.”
South Korea head coach Jurgen Klinsmann directs his players against Saudi Arabia during the teams’ round of 16 match at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Jan. 30, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
After 120-plus minutes of sheer drama and the penalties, there will be precious little rest for the weary South Korean team. Their quarterfinals match against Australia is Friday evening.
The Aussies have had two extra days of rest, after eliminating Indonesia on Sunday.
South Korea ended up on this side of the bracket, with less rest, because they were held to a 3-3 draw by Malaysia in the final Group E match and finished second in that group. If South Korea had beaten Malaysia, they would have won the group and played Japan in the round of 16 on Tuesday, with an additional day of rest before the quarterfinals if South Korea advanced that far.
The stunning draw against world No. 130 Malaysia generated conspiracy theories that South Korea purposely didn’t win that match so that they could avoid Japan, the top-ranked AFC team at No. 17, in their first knockout match. Klinsmann denied such charges in his prematch presser Monday and did so again Tuesday, saying he wanted to win the group because it would have given his team extra rest.
South Korean players celebrate their 4-2 win over Saudi Arabia in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Jan. 30, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“That’s the reason why I badly wanted to win our group, to have more recovery days,” he said. “Because we didn’t win the group, so we pay that price. But I think this win gives the team an enormous amount of energy and it gives the team even more spirit.”
Rest or not, Klinsmann said his team “will be ready” for Australia.
“Australia will be as much drama as Saudi Arabia. They deserve a lot of respect. It’s a very good team,” the coach said. “We have two days less of recovery time between our games. But we will give everything we have against Australia. We want to go until the end of the tournament. This team is capable of doing that.”
(Yonhap)
