A sadly predictable result, but gut-wrenching nonetheless. A poor Kim Min-woo foul and Korea’s tactics all wrong. We’ll get to a recap later, after we’ve drank through the soju supply here at the Tavern, but here are some snap player ratings. Writers will add on in due course, so check back and get in your comments. We’re all in this together.
Cho Hyun-woo
TL: He made some exceptional saves, was commanding in the air. If he had saved that pen it would have been a 10. Surprised he was that good. Maybe a little flimsy on foul that led to penalty, but I can’t fault him for going for that. 8.5
JC: Kept Korea in the game early, but had a few questionable decision-making moments on coming out and distribution. On the way to J League soon? 7
MW: He was a beast. Plain and simple. If he wasn’t in goal in the 1st half, Korea would’ve been out of the match. He got them to HT at 0-0 off magnificent saves. Could do little about the penalty and it wasn’t his fault it was conceded. He should start every other match in this World Cup. He is the new No. 1 and I am happy about that. 9
RG: Solid. A few distribution problems in 2nd half, but the Daegu man has reflexes and then some. Saved Korea from further embarrassment and super saves (3 by my count) as Jang and company allowed Sweden to carve through them like butter.
Lee Yong TL: Maybe not so much his fault, but his crosses were awful. Defensively he was fine, but offensively had way too many touches and offered nothing. 5
JC: A fairly normal outing for Lee Yong as he played pretty much as he always does – poor going forward, okay at the back. 6
MW: He wasn’t very good. He found space and touches down the right and did nothing with that. Defensively, he was fine. 3
RG: 5.8
Jang Hyunsoo TL: Awful pass sprained Park Jooho’s hamstring, but otherwise a little over-aggressive. Distribution was sub-par. Shouldn’t be in the team, we’ve known this for months. 4
JC: Got caught numerous times due to iffy decision-making. Being too-aggressive and not winning the ball (thus being in poor position), and poor passing as well. (although I think blaming him for Park Jooho’s injury is a bit much). 4.5
MW: I didn’t notice him much other than typical fouls from him. But he didn’t assert himself like his CB partner Kim Young-gwon. 4
RG: I’m not going to add anything new other than a lot of ball watching that could’ve led to some Sweden goals were it not for either Kim Young-Gwon or Cho Hyun-Woo to the rescue.
Kim Younggwon TL: Made some crucial last-ditch tackles to save Korea’s bacon. Also won his fair share of aerial battles and was more confident in his distribution. 7
JC: Looked more like the Kim Younggwon that captained the NT to the East Asian Cup title. Made some crucial tackles and looked relatively comfortable. 7
MW: He was very, very good all match. Made last-ditch tackles, won the ball in the air, and played smart defense all match. Without him, this scoreline would have been much worse. 8
RG: Solid, better than expected 8
Park Jooho TL: Can’t give him a rating, came off too early. Had a couple bad crosses to memory, but 26 minutes isn’t fair to judge him on. NA
JC: No rating because of injury (but he should’ve just let that ball sail out) N/A
MW: Sad to see him get injured, Jae is spot on with having no need to go for that pass. N/A
RG: Park Joo-Ho was badly missed in this match – Korea started to use the right channels and were less then effective.
Koo Jacheol TL: Started for his physicality, so maybe after watching a replay we’ll see some of that, but he was really slow, offered nothing in his high attacking position, gave away the ball a lot… 4.5
JC: Got lost in the super-deep defending. Doesn’t have the legs to play the role he was asked and gave the ball away cheaply on a number of occasions. 5
MW: He was muscled off the ball often and his only real highlight was a header into the side netting. 4
RG: One headed shot, nearly on target, wasn’t enough and perhaps rust from a long injury recovery has caught up to the Augsburg man.
Ki Sungyueng TL: Unfortunately one of the most anonymous games KSY has had in a KNT shirt, largely due to tactics. Can’t fault him for much, was quiet and assured but obviously team did too much defending. 6
JC: Struggled to get on the ball meaningfully as often happens when he drops between the centerbacks. Was slack at times and almost got robbed of the ball a few times in bad areas. 5.5
MW: I didn’t notice Ki all that much. That was most likely a tactical mistake more than poor play from Ki. 5
RG: For Korea to be successful, they needed to be firing on all cylinders, but especially from their midfield maestro. That didn’t happen from their captain and Korea uncharacteristically struggled in the center. 5.7
Lee Jaesung TL: Wasn’t the game for him. Wish he did more but team ignored his best opportunities by constantly going back to the centrebacks instead of finding him in space. Had some heavy touches but looked to get involved near the end. 6
JC: A difficult one for me. At times Lee Jaesung is wonderful, but at moments his touch really lets him down or he tries to do too much. 6
MW: He showed a lot of industry in midfield and tried to make things work, but it just wasn’t coming off for him. That knockdown header for Hwang was perfect late in the match. 7
RG: Had his moments, but otherwise looked unusually poor with his touches and distribution. 5.9
Kim Shinwook TL: We basically knew what he offered, and that wasn’t much against Granqvist and the other tall Swedish defender. 5
JC: Put himself about as much as he could, but Korea’s super deep and passive defending basically neutralized any hopes of getting him creating issues in dangerous areas. 5
MW: He offered what he offered. A few knockdown headers, some slow hold-up play. Not much else. 3
RG: I called it in the Tavern preview podcast: if Shin goes with the Wookie up top, expect Korea to lose. Period. Playing him slows the transition and clogs the middle. Exhibit A: Son Heung-Min counters on the right, Kim begins his run to help Son, he’s higher up the field than Hwang, yet Hwang beats the slow lumbering forward by a country mile, unable to give any help to Son isolated on the right flank. 4.5
Hwang Heechan TL: Ah… he had some good moments, but you expect more from an attacker. Missed chance near the end was disappointing but to be expected. 5
JC: Missed a golden(ish) chance at the end on a pretty free header to level things. Was otherwise an as expected performance filled with energy, poor touches, and aggressiveness. 5.5
MW: He is clearly not a winger at the international level yet. He just doesn’t have the skills with the ball to maneuver around top-level defenders. He missed a header late on for an equalizer that he had to score. 3
RG: Offered pace, nearly found Son charging into the box, but disjointed somewhat in executing an effective attack. 5.7
Son Heungmin TL: Shin had him much too deep, and he used his trademark burning pace on a couple occasions, but was also really selfish on others. 6 J
C: Was he on the pitch? Other then his one bursting run Son was largely anonymous. 5
MW: He burst past defenders on the wings, he got into the box late, and he tried to find shots. But he had a rough night because Sweden were ready for him. 5
RG: Bursting with pace, caused Sweden a bit of worry, but too much pressure on his shoulders with not a lot of help (until Lee Seung-Woo came on – too little, too late). 6.5
SUBS Kim Minwoo TL: I’m genuinely sorry, but he did nothing right, and that penalty was fundamentally stupid. Man going AWAY from the goalkeeper. Crosses awful. Nothing in attack. Not a defender, and it showed. Never play for the team again. I’m sorry. 1
JC: The penalty was a basic error with the player moving away from goal, but I suspect he saw the keeper out and the goal open and he, in that split second, had only thoughts of clearing the ball. 4
MW: He tried his hardest in his LB role. I will say that first. Also, that penalty he gave up was also a challenge he probably had to make. That being said, he missed the ball and took out the attacker. Ki was consoling him and I feel for him. 4
RG: Nothing new to add. 4
Jung Wooyoung TL: Honestly my power went on when he came on, but I saw him punt a couple long-balls? NA
JC: Was massively off the pace when coming on, but had a couple nice moments when he created space to open his passing lanes. (this won’t be popular, but he probably should’ve started and played the Ki role with Ki taking Koo’s spot). 5.5
MW: I don’t know exactly what he did. He made some passes and tackles, battled in the air, and I can’t think of anything else. He was Jung WY, a mediocre CDM. 4
RG: 5
Lee Seungwoo TL: Should have come on much earlier. Didn’t change the match but at least offered somewhat of a spark. Unfortunately far too late. I’m sorry he’ll have to suffer the yeot-tossing. 7 (albeit small sample size)
JC: Lively as always. Personally think he benefited from the fact that Sweden had already scored and were sitting deeper. 6
MW: He was lively, looking to get into spaces. He cut in for a pass to spread out wide for Lee Yong and it came off well. I didn’t see a lot of him because he came on too late. For me, he should’ve started. 6
RG: I’ll echo the “should’ve started” narrative, the offense came back to life, plus he added a decent powered shot that was deflected out for a Korean corner. What could have been had he started. 7
MANAGER Shin Taeyong TL: Ah…. I understand what he was trying to do, but it didn’t work in the first half. He had to have changed it. Obviously his plan was wasted by a terrible challenge by Kim, but all of the pre-game antics – stupid racially insensitive comments, dumb mind-games – plus the post-game stuff – yelling at the referee for a penalty (off of a harmless ball-to-hand contact) compounded by slow decision making, poor squad selection (Jung Wooyoung to change a match?). I understand how difficult Sweden is to break down, but Korea offered nothing today. Blame lies at his door. 2
JC: I actually largely agree with Shin’s idea in general, but the team was far too passive defensively. Letting Sweden walk unchallenged into the Korea half and then start pinging balls to the edge of the box was always going to be dangerous. Thought with Son and Hwang starting he would use their pace and energy to harass the Sweden CBs more. Waited until it was too late to make changes to get things going. 4.5
MW: I am going to be harsh. I’m going to bring it. The tactics for this match were pretty poor. The focus was too much on defensive solidity and players sat too deep. The 2nd half substitutions occurred too late and were reactionary to the penalty goal. This was peak Shin Tae-yong, and peak Shin Tae-yong is not a good thing. If yeot is thrown, it should be at Shin. 2
RG: Exhibit A of his management (or lack thereof) was not changing thing up at the start of the 2nd. End of 1st Korea looked lucky to escape unscathed. That didn’t change after the 2nd half restart.
Shin Tae-Yong is but one major element to explain and understand Korea’s defeat by Sweden; there’s culpability to share in today’s result. However, even if Kim Min-Woo didn’t concede the penalty with VAR hindsight, and it ended up scoreless, that was outright atrocious football. It was destined to fail with no clear underlying strategy except hope for a miraculous counter (with Kim Shin-Wook leading that line?). That or whipping the ball into the Wookie’s head. And yet, this isn’t his to carry entirely. There is a depth problem. That points to an overall structural problem of Korean football – from the lack of domestic support – poor wage structure in the K-League – the inability after all these years to figure out a proper way to deal with how to deal with military conscription and it’s deleterious effects on Korean football development and the utter lack of a proper dialogue that could offer viable solutions. On the management side of things is the KFA’s ultimate culpability in it’s ineptitude with it’s vapid coaching development. But back on Shin: THIS is the best Korea has to offer in regards to coaching at the national level? With techniques and tactics around the world advancing at a rapid pace, Korea has taken steps backwards. Today’s result is on Shin Tae-Yong. 2
Right. Sad, but predictable. The main problem of our team is speed on a (counter-)attacks and no creativity at all. We need more quick and fast football. Sorry, but with this game we have nothing to do at the WC. Everybody is laughing at us. Sadly but truth.
Exactly this… we’re unable to counter-attack, ever. If we were going to counter-attack why wasn’t LSW on the pitch sooner?
I expected nothing and still came out disappointed lol
STY was shitty as expected. Thanks for 70 minutes of shin wook and a game of long passes against one of the tallest teams.
Pretty much everyone’s mood. Expected nothing and still disappointed…
STY focused too much on patching up defensive that he blew in attack…
i thought they could not perform below expectations but knt continues to surprise…
Playing for the Draw!? The Rant of a Frustrated Fan
Dear Shin Tae Young…
Did you watch the Mexico vs. Germany game? Did you see who won? Did you see how they won? Do you understand that it was crucial for us to grab 3 points from Sweden? So why did you play to draw and not to win?
The tactics used in today’s game were awkward to say the least. I am totally fine with playing defensive. I get it. Our team just doesn’t have the quality to effectively neutralize a GOOD offense and we aren’t known for possession and build up play. But even if you play defensive you still have to play to the team’s strengths and apply them to what we know about our opponents. We knew who was going to play for Sweden and how they were going to play. They are a strong and organized DEFENSIVE team, with only two real offensive threats: Berg and Forsberg. Our strengths = a front line with pace and Son at its core.
Our tactics were much too defensive, but not counter-attack oriented against a Sweden side that doesn’t pose too heavy of an offensive threat compared to Germany and Mexico. So in a must win game, why not attack?
With Kim Shin Wook holding up top as the striker and Son, Hwang, and LJS basically used as WINGBACKS on the defensive end, we lost all counter-attacking capabilities because we lacked pace and numbers up top. I’m not hating on Kim Shin Wook. I can’t really blame him because he played as expected: slow on the press and ineffective in the air despite his height. If we are going to play defensive, we still have to counter on transition, but to use Son and Hwang, two players that should be attacking the back line and finding gaps behind the backline, as WINGBACKS baffles me. Like the tavern mentions, Glen Jones stated Lee Yong had more of the ball than our star player Son. This wasn’t because Sweden was suffocating him defensively, but because we set Son up for failure. We set the one department where I thought we had the edge over Sweden, our offense, up for failure.
The starting lineup I had hoped to see was the team we had on the field at the end of the game. An immediate impact was made once Lee Seung Woo came on the field and having Jung Woo Young paired with Ki Sung Yueng allowed Ki to drift further up the field where he could connect with our offensive players, which our defenders found difficult doing. This was just a rant because I was frustrated, so I don’t really know where I am going with this now, but in a group where we are the clear underdogs in every matchup I just think we should be playing the way that allows us to be the most successful. I was just so sad that before the game and in the beginning of the game, the commentators kept talking about the class of Son and the threat he brings; yet we saw him defending by our own corner flag for the majority of the game. Zero shots on targets in a game that required 3 points says a lot. It doesn’t matter if we win or lose because I’ll support our team no matter what. I just wish we would play in a way where we can say we gave it our all with the strengths we have so we can have no regrets.
Hey. Appreciate the emotions.
So I have to say that I (again) theoretically am fine with the line-up. (KSW as a striker is annoying, but if we use him only sporadically and to keep a CB busy, then I guess okay? Like we have to use our only CF at some point). I’m also theoretically fine with the tactics. Make Sweden play, exploit their weak CBs, stay compact.
Problem A – lineup didn’t match the tactics (counter-attacking with KSW?)
Problem B – you can’t begin a counter attack 40 yards into your own half. and certainly not without putting some pressing and pressure. that’s my qualm. we didn’t push them to do anything, and just let themselves suck us in so deep that SHM and HHC were sooooo deep
Positives:
-Cho Hyunwoo was very good (admittedly, bar set pretty low for Korean GKs from prior WCs and recent friendlies). Still, a positive performance is a positive performance, and he can take confidence
-Kim Younggwon was also a strong defensive presence. I talk about how bad our defense has been, and I was surprised at how much defending we had to do in this match (sadly… get to that later). KYG was the best defender we had and one of the better players on the field for Korea. Showed leadership as well.
-In general I’m always criticizing our defense. Well, I guess it’s a positive that we didn’t concede other than the penalty, and we basically did fine on set pieces. But part of that is because Sweden should have scored more and just sucked on most of their chances. Sweden also dictated the whole game, so our defense got more practice today than any of us expected.
-Lee Seung Woo got some WC experience!… yay…
Negatives:
-Shin didn’t back up all the BS he’s been saying for the past month. This was a terrible strategic performances from Korea (sorry Jae, I agree with you 99% of the time but gotta disagree with you here). The players just had to go out and PLAY, but they looked like they were thinking too much. I give all the (dis)credit to Shin for that.
-Why all the focus from Shin on Sweden’s height? DAMN Korea has to get over this obsession with height. So… the strategy around Sweden was to put Kim Shin Wook in because he’s tall? Dammit, Peru is the shortest team at the World Cup and they played against Sweden with no fear in a recent friendly. They didn’t give up any goals (they didn’t score either, but you don’t need height to score a goal!). That’s the first thing Shin Tae Yong mentioned is that he put KSW in because his height could limit Sweden’s effectiveness. Guess what Shin? IT DIDN’T!
We’ve been saying for months that the Wookie is ineffective, but I guess we all expected this. Someone here said insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the same result.. Just bad, bad, bad leadership. Enough criticizing the Wookie from me- just wish he had never been introduced to the KNT because he’s great playing against Koreans/Asians, but that’s it.
-Lee Yong- did he suffer a concussion against Senegal? Only slightly kidding, but man his crosses were bad. I’ve heard a few Tavern guys mention is before, but it was so obvious today because of how much he touched the ball.
-Hwang- still falls too easily for my tastes and hasn’t been too effective for the senior KNT. He may get better with time, but he has a ways to go.
-Son just looked frustrated. This was to be expected, we knew Sweden wasn’t gonna make life easy for him. Not really a negative I guess, but what is a negative is that he looked like he was having no fun out there. The whole team looked that way… it’s sad to watch, but this team isn’t gonna get any better if they play out of stress instead of love of the game.
-Ki was just anonymous- again that’s more due to strategy. For Ki and Son, I’m worried that they only know how to lose in KNT jerseys. How can they get that out of their heads? I’m just not sure at this rate they’re ever gonna win for the KNT. They are great individual players, but maybe they’re just in the absolute wrong generation for Korea. I like them, and I like their talent, and i like their post-match quotes and how they tried to lift Kim Minwoo’s spirits. But just not optimistic about their KNT futures. They need young talent to come in and give them new life.
My loser of the match- Shin Tae Yong. These players deserve better, and his strategy just did them no favors. I don’t want anyone to get fired- the coaching turnover has been way too high, but I would have a hard time defending him after the WC if he gets sacked, simply for the way he has handled the last month. I know we need “stability”, but I just think he’s all wrong. I was gonna give him the benefit of the doubt, but this team looked awful today (again, Sweden has NOT been a good team, and they weren’t even that good today, and we NEEDED a win against them).
It was ugly today. In the next 2 matches, I say these guys need to play for fun, freedom, love of the game, and WC experience. Forget about getting to the next round- it’s very unlikely now, so just take the opportunity for what it is. You get to play on the biggest stage against Mexico and Germany- value that opportunity and love it. Not many get to experience it. They were in their heads way too much against Sweden and it showed.
I really think the KNT needs a huge overhaul and a young, dynamic foreign coach to give them some optimism and a fresh outlook. I know Shin Tae Yong inherited a shitshow, but Stielike inherited a shitshow, Hong Myeongbo inherited a shitshow, Choi Kanghee inherited etc etc…. it’s been going downhill for awhile and we need something huge to turn this around.
Agree to play for fun. As for overhaul… KFA wont overhaul, and KNT doesn’t need that big of an overhaul tbf… we just lost 3-4 starters… STY’s tactics were abd but everything else (apart from his stupid trash talk and selection) is hardly his fault. shitty situation to be in and we sacrified another young managerial career because he can’t stay after the Sweden match. He’s playing for his NT career honestly.
I don’t know who you’d hire. Young dynamic coach? Wasn’t STY our young dynamic coach?
So Lee Yong was awful. I was touting his presence a little but I seem to have learnt little. He was terrible. I’m very disappointed…
“Dammit, Peru is the shortest team at the World Cup and they played against Sweden with no fear in a recent friendly.”
So I think the thing is when you’re STY, and you only have less than a yaer, with so little time to work with SHJ or JDW, he wanted a natural CF and KSW did earn it in other friendlies incl the ones that the european players couldn’t be at. so I see why he called him up. of course SHJ should have at least made training camp so wtv. but yes, we didn’t need to only hit longballs to KSW all day and go on 1-2 hapless counters… the approach was wrong, and we gave them too much respect for their height and compactness. in my tactical thing i said they were tough and compact, didn’t say they were impossible. Peru gave STY ways to break them down…
First of all, most of the blame for the goal should go to Jang Hyunsoo. So utterly careless with the ball. Time and time again, giving up the ball so deep in a team’s half like that leaves the defense exposed and results in goals.
Secondly, the team lacked any idea of how to attack. How many times did players pass the ball and then just stand there. There was no movement to put pressure on the defense and force Sweden to lose shape. The only runs seemed to come from space opening up versus making runs to force space to open up.
Thirdly, if Kim Shinwook wants to be a target forward, he needs to be able to read the ball in the air better so that he’s at least in the vicinity when it comes down to try and receive the ball. Bonus criticism…he has no ball control.
Yeah I didn’t get why players just standing around when receiving the ball. I remember I saw a lot of this from KNT in Stielike’s last couple games. Were players afraid to receive the ball? Was it the pressure of world cup? Was there some confusion dealing with the tactics? The players couldn’t complete simple passes.
1) In JHS’ defense stats show his 6 missed passes were longballs. So dk what you’re talking about…
2) The team was just too deep to attack, and STY didn’t seem to have given them any instructions to this effect. So disappointed… this isn’t who he is as a manager under no pressure. Even against Germany at the Olympics he was more bold.
3) KSW had 40% pass completion. Not even so much not winning headers, he was a liability….
Personally I prefer that the backs play the ball out of the back and have fewer long passes which usually just give possession to the opposing team. On the run of play that led to the goal watch the replay where JHS loses possession of the ball. There was hardly any pressure on him until the ball got tangled up in his feet. Because he gave up the ball so easily, KNT for a split second wasn’t prepared to transition back to defense while Sweden as a team was intent on putting pressure higher the pitch so Sweden was able to pounce a step ahead.
Oops. I commented on the other article, but I echoed much of what was already said. I know as fans it’s easy for us to sit around and criticize. However, in this care, WE’VE ALL BEEN SAYING THE SAME THING ABOUT SHIN AND HIS TACTICS, OR LACK THEREOF, FOR MONTHS, AND HE PROVED US RIGHT (unfortunately)!! That is… bad…
^^ this! I am absolutely shocked at how a bunch of us fans/sofa commentators could see this coming from a mile away!! ESPECIALLY after all the talk about strategy from Shin (the “TINKERER”!!!)
Jon, right?? It boggles my mind…
I don’t think the idea was that bad (try to use KSW to keep a CB busy and drag him out of position… we’ll look at it in a later analysis) but the execution was piss poor. + no pressing and letting sweden come on so much was suicidal, you can’t counter attack that deep. still it was very elementary tactics in many sectors and STY was exposed today. too focused on defensive solidity that he sacrificed everything else about the side, big overreaction.
It’s easy to blame tactics. In my opinion, the performance today is reflective of the lack of ability. It stings to say it, but I think it’s true. Tactics don’t explain the terrible passing, terrible ball control, terrible defending, terrible everything. Tactics may have been terrible too, but i don’t know because the players are incapable of executing them. It’s performances like this that have people believing that 2002 was rigged. Worst match of the tournament so far, and it sucks being a part of it. There were no positives here. At most the keeper’s performance, but even then, I say that has more to do with Sweden’s poor fishing. I’m having people over to watch Korea v. Mexico, but I’m thinking of canceling for obvious reasons.
Yes the more I reflect on the match, I think our players’ performances were just subpar. Maybe if Hwang had scored the header at the end and another player had scored off of one of their chances and we had won 2-1, I wouldn’t have been so harsh on STY. We would have said how well we defended and we scored the goals we needed. So yes it may be an overreaction to blame Shin… but it doesn’t change the fact that today was a must-win and we screwed up against a beatable team.
And it also doesn’t change the fact that Shin says some of the dumbest shit that embarrasses me as a Korean. “Europeans can’t tell the difference between Asians, so we switched our numbers!!” Is he some freaking caveman? They showed that clip on the pre-game show, and Kate Abdo’s reaction said it all. Why should anyone take us seriously? I guess our team is just a joke.
Swedish manager’s response after the game: “Our analysts had 1,630 video clips of Korea to go through. We then created a 20-minute presentation for the players. Those doing that job recognized the Korean players regardless of their shirt numbers.”
He was way too respectful with his response.
I think if we drew or even won, people still would have called us lucky and that it was probably a result that didn’t reflect the reality of the match. I can’t even put in words how terrible it was to watch. I just wanted it over by the time Sweden scored. There was no urgency at all, and any spurts of urgency were immediately lost due to poor ability. At times I even wondered how the hell we qualified for the World Cup, and how could anybody defend our place over teams like Itality or the Dutch or even the U.S. It’s a shambles and there are absolutely no signs of improvement.
STY is gone after this world cup, unless the literal hand of God reaches from the sky to produce results against Germany and Mexico. The reality though is that both Germany and Mexico are counting themselves lucky for being drawn against us. A point is all I ask for out of the group stages, but our best chance is behind us. So, who is everybody else going to support now? I’m in for Mexico.
By the way, I thought of one legitimate positive to the match, and that is that it was a shining example of VAR done right. Replays show that it was a clear penalty, and the system produced the correct result. It only makes me more irritated that Korea is the shining example of the benefits of VAR.
The penalty was the right decision, but the referee shouldn’t have stopped KNT in the middle of their attack. I heard referees agreed to wait until a break in the play to check the video footage. I guess we can’t blame the referee if there’s no written rule for this. Some of the incidents at this world cup made me realize that this sport needs to fix some of the rules(ex: holding in the box) and leave less for referee interpretation.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3533707/var-at-the-world-cup-a-timeline-of-the-tournament
According to this article, VAR protocol requires the referee to wait for a break in the play. If Korea scored, the goal would have been wiped way? …I guess this makes sense.
shocking refeereing yeah. Howard Webb (2010 final ref) was on TSN (canadian ESPN) to say that the ref got that one all wrong. luckily it was a pen (for him) but he can’t stop a counter-attack like that. Swedish players also need to keep their cool and learn to get into position instead of whining like that. clearly wasn’t a neutral area.
and i’m 90% it’s not a stoppage, but the ball needs to be in a neutral area (nothing has to be happening, aka not a counter-attack). ref was badly wrong
The execution was poor, but is that surprising considering the poor tactics and lineup used? KSWv as a soccer player is subpar. We do have decent to good players who weren’t put into position to do anything because of poor tactics. Of course, players have to execute, but executing crap ideas will result in subpar performances. And yes, our quality of players is just not as good, which is why I had low expectations, but at least put them in position to play their best and to their strengths.
One good thing.
I admire Ki Seung Yung’s image of being a good team player and not berating Kim Min Woo. That is a real captain. Don’t kick them while they are down.
Honestly, I hope Korea goes for broke and just plays. Who cares if we lose big, at least we go down fighting and trying.
exactly, Lionel!