Son Heung-min single-handedly saved the South Korean team! Scored in stoppage time and scored in extra time, reversing Australia and was called a "thriller"
In the second match of the 2023 Asian Cup 1/4 finals in the early morning of the 3rd, Beijing time, the South Korean team reversed the Australian team that was sent off 2-1 with the "point-making" in the second half of stoppage time and the direct free kick scored in the first half of extra time by Son Heung-min, and entered the top 4 as desired. They will face Jordan in the semi-finals.
In a game with the participation of the Korean team, there is no shortage of divine dramas. From the second round of the group stage against Jordan, to the final round of the group stage against Malaysia, and then to the 1/8 final against Saudi Arabia, the South Korean team has scored goals in every game, but every game is thrilling and unsettled. After the quarterfinals, the AFC published a headline on its official website with the headline "South Korea defeated Australia in a thriller", describing the twists and turns of the South Korea-Australia war.
I have to say that the South Korean team has not taken the usual path in this Asian Cup. In the second round of the group stage, they drew with Jordan with a stoppage-time goal. In the final round of the group stage, they also scored 2 goals in stoppage time, but the result of their final draw by the Malaysian team made it inevitable that the outside world would have doubts about "deliberately avoiding the Japanese team in the 1/8 finals".
In the 1/8 finals, they trailed the Saudi Arabian team by one goal for most of the game, and it was not until the 9th minute of stoppage time that they scored with Cho Gyu-sung's header to tie the score at 1-1, thus dragging the game into extra time, and finally eliminated the opponent through a penalty shootout and entered the top 8.
Facing the Australian team, the physical condition of the South Korean team was severely tested. In the first half, Australia took advantage of their physical advantage to dominate the field and broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute with a volley from the right side in front of the South Korean penalty area.
However, with his team leading the way, Australian coach Trent Alexander-Arnold suddenly became conservative in his use of troops. From the opening 10 minutes of the second half, South Korea kept Australia firmly in the half. It's just that taking advantage of the players' good physical condition and confrontation ability, the Australian team has saved the day many times. But under the enemy's intensive offensive artillery, the Australian team's defense finally broke out.
In the sixth minute of stoppage time in the second half, Son Heung-min burst into the penalty area and was tripped by the opposing player, and the Omani referee on duty Kaf did not hesitate to point to the penalty spot. Hwang Hee-chan took the penalty kick and helped South Korea equalize in a thrilling way. Including this goal, South Korea have scored in second-half stoppage time for the fourth consecutive game.
During the group stage, Son Heung-min only scored two penalties, which made people mistakenly believe that the Tottenham "number one" was lost in this Asian Cup. But it turns out that when the team is in crisis, Son Xingmin has always been the soul of the team who can stand up and turn the tide. In the 13th minute of extra time, South Korea won a well-placed free-kick on the right edge of the opponent's penalty area. Although the tall Australian team built a "human defense", it still couldn't stop Son Xingmin's world wave free kick from going straight to the corner of the goal.
Shortly thereafter, Australia's O'Neill kicked South Korea's Hwang Hee-chan, and referee Kraft decided to show O'Neill a red card after initiating the VAR intervention process and watching the video replay of the incident. The Australian team, which played with one less player, was unable to recover and was finally eliminated 1-2.
In the final of the 16th Asian Cup in Sydney, Australia in 2015, Australia won the tournament for the first time in history with a 2-1 victory over South Korea with a goal in extra time in Troysey. Son Heung-min, who once scored in that decisive battle and shed tears for losing the championship, refused to regain his sadness after 9 years. At the Janoub Stadium in Doha, he almost single-handedly saved the South Korean team.
After knocking out the two seeded teams of Saudi Arabia and Australia in a row, the South Korean team will play the group stage opponent Jordan in the semifinals on the 6th. It is worth noting that their main centre-back, Kim Min-jae, was sidelined in the next round due to accumulating two yellow cards. Next, the South Korean team may not dare to continue to perform the "divine drama", they need to go all out to deal with the dark horse of the Jordan team, so as to close to the first Asian Cup title in 64 years.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun