5-3! The Asian Cup treble stopped in the round of 16, and the South Korean team escaped from death: counting seconds and drawing + penalty kick overturn
The quarterfinals of the Asian Cup in Qatar continued, and the two favourites Saudi Arabia and South Korea ushered in the pinnacle showdown, and the gold content of this game can be called the final staged in advance. In the end, the two sides played out 1-1 in 120 minutes. In the penalty shootout, Cho Hyun-woo made two saves, South Korea turned the tables against the wind with a total score of 5-3 and entered the quarterfinals, and the three-time champion Saudi Arabia was unfortunately out.
South Korea and Saudi Arabia met in advance, which can be called the biggest farce of the Asian Cup, and the origin of everything is that Japan lost 1-2 to Iraq in Group D in the second round of the group stage. This match allowed Iraq to secure the top spot in the group ahead of schedule, with Japan having to fight for second place in the group. Due to the first round of the second knockout round of Group D, the seeded team in Group E, South Korea, panicked. They drew 2-2 with Jordan in the second round and were in a position to attack, retreat and defend. After Japan defeated Indonesia to lock up the second place in Group D, the South Korean team drew 3-3 with Malaysia in the final round, breaking out the biggest upset of this Asian Cup, ranking second in Group E with 1 win, 2 draws and 5 points, successfully avoiding Japan.
However, South Korea, which avoided the Japanese team, could not avoid Saudi Arabia. The first round of the second knockout round of Group E against the winner of Group F, which made the top spot in Group F a hot potato. Saudi Arabia won the group with a draw, but they missed a penalty against Thailand in the final round and then lay flat in attack. Unexpectedly, the Thai team did even better, and there was no shot on target in the whole game, and Saudi Arabia couldn't kick the ball into its own goal no matter how much they wanted to play. As a result, Saudi Arabia was sent to the top of Group F by Thailand against South Korea. However, these two draws, South Korea's draw with Malaysia is undoubtedly more despised by the outside world. It was in such a special context that the two sides met.
In terms of starters, both sides did their best. Saudi Arabia's Shehri and Al-Dosari formed a double arrow, and the back line set up a three-centre-back formation. South Korea's Son Heung-min, Lee Gang-in and Jung Woo-yeong form a trident, Lee Jae-seong and Hwang In-bum are in the midfield, and Kim Young-kwon and Kim Min-jae are in the backline.
In the first half of the game, the two sides contributed to the Asian ceiling-level offensive and defensive duel. In contrast, the Saudis had the advantage in possession and shots on goal. Son Heung-min had two long-range shots, but both were saved by the Saudi goalkeeper. Saudi Arabia came close to scoring in the 41st minute, when Al-Shehri hit the crossbar with a header from a corner, and Kanu's header hit the crossbar again in the second spot, shocking South Korea in a cold sweat. At half-time, the two sides exchanged blanks.
In the second half, the Saudi team took the lead in making substitutions, and Radif who missed a penalty in the last game replaced the star Al-Shehri, and the adjustment worked wonders. Less than a minute into the second half, Radif suddenly stepped forward to form a single knife and calmly hit the far corner to help the Saudi team break the deadlock. The South Korean team made three substitutions in a row, Hwang Hee-chan, Cho Gyu-sung, and Park Yong-woo appeared one after another, and Son Heung-min returned to the side from the center, and the South Korean team's attack gradually began to threaten. After 80 minutes, South Korea launched a siege, creating many chances through the wings, and came infinitely close to scoring several times, but Saudi goalkeeper Ahmed was brilliant and saved many times to score. In stoppage time, Cho Gyu-sung's header hit the crossbar, and Hwang Hee-chan hit it wide with a one-handed shot. Just when Saudi Arabia was infinitely close to victory, in the 99th minute, Kim Tae-hwan made a 45° cross, Xue Yingyou crossed in front of the goal, and Cho Gyu-sung's header was equalized and forced Saudi Arabia 1-1 into overtime.
Extra-time was partly a continuation of stoppage time in regular time, with South Korea still taking advantage of the wide attack and the height advantage of the centre-forwards to create a threat. In addition, both sides were angry, and Hwang Hee-chan and Bleich had a verbal altercation. Cho Gyu-sung had a great chance not to shoot. The Saudi goalkeeper continued his excellent performance and kept his goal intact. In the final moments, both sides missed the chance to kill. The two sides went to penalties 1-1.
In the penalty shootout, the Saudi team came first. In the first round, Kanu and Son Heung-min both hit steadily, with a total score of 2-2. In the second round, Hamid and Kim Young-kwon also scored, with a total score of 3-3. In the third round, Najib's penalty was saved by Cho Hyun-woo, and Cho Gyu-sung scored into the corner, giving South Korea a 4-3 lead over Saudi Arabia. In the fourth round, Gharib's penalty kick was saved by Cho Hyun-woo, Hwang Hee-chan made a final decision, and South Korea turned the tables 5-3 against the wind.
At the end of the match, South Korea made it to the quarter-finals, where they were greeted by another favourite, Australia. Australia have not been in good form at this Asian Cup, and South Korea will hopefully go one step further. Although the whole of Asia was watching the jokes of the South Korean team, the trick of the South Korean team still succeeded, and the South Korean team still withstood the pressure and escaped from death after counting the seconds and turning the penalty kicks.