From BZ/dpa
South Korea followed group winners Portugal into the round of 16. The Asians won the duel against the 2016 European champions 2-1 (1-1) on Friday and thus secured second place in Group H ahead of rival Uruguay who tied for points.
A 2-0 (2-0) win against Ghana didn’t help Uruguay anymore. With the same goal difference, the more goals scored made the difference for South Korea. In the end, the South Americans were just one goal away.
Young-Gwon Kim (27) equalized the early Portuguese opening goal by Ricardo Horta (5th minute), before Hee-Chan Hwang (90+2) sent the South Koreans into a frenzy late on in front of 44,097 spectators at Education City Stadium.
The striker engaged himself in the offensive game, but didn’t want to succeed much. In the 42nd minute, he dived freely in front of the South Korean goal for a header, but missed the target by a few meters. Previously, Ronaldo had failed in his goal-scoring qualities when he had a big chance but was offside (30′). And in the second half he didn’t hit the ball properly in a promising position (52′).
To make matters worse, Ronaldo, who was currently without a club, was also involved in the goal. From a corner, the superstar looked unfortunate as the ball bounced off his back for Kim, who eventually just had to shoot in. Ronaldo also had to hear “Messi” shouts from the South Korean fans. After 65 minutes, Santos took his hapless offensive player off the field.
The former Hamburger and Leipziger scored a counterattack after submission by Son to the celebrated victory. South Korea’s coach Paulo Bento had to watch all of this from the stands. Ironically, he was suspended against his home country after the red card because of his violent protest after the game against Ghana. Bento had also coached Portugal and Ronaldo between 2010 and 2014 – albeit with moderate success.
Uruguay’s Giorgian de Arrascaeta scores his second goal here in the 2-0 win against Ghana. In the end, both opponents were eliminated Photo: REUTERS
In front of 43,443 spectators Giorgian de Arrascaeta of Flamengo Rio de Janeiro fired a brace (26th and 32nd minutes) for the previously winless and goalless Uruguay to an ultimately meaningless victory. Ghana, on the other hand, missed the great opportunity to make World Cup history as the third African team after Morocco and Senegal by reaching the round of 16.
Suárez, who had become the enemy of many Ghanaians in 2010, provided the preparatory work for Uruguay’s first goal at this World Cup. Twelve years ago, the then 23-year-old prevented an almost certain goal from Ghana on the goal line with his hands just before the end of extra time in the quarter-finals and was sent off for it. However, Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty for the Black Stars, who failed on penalties. “It’s not a revenge for me, it’s a normal game,” said Ghana coach Addo before the two teams met again in Al-Wakra.
In fact, history repeated itself a bit. André Ayew, son of Ghanaian soccer legend Abédi Pelé, like Gyan in 2010, missed a penalty conceded by Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet against Mohammed Kudus. Ayew was visibly unsettled by the long delay before the penalty – Rochet dived into the corner quickly enough and saved. The German referee Daniel Siebert had initially wrongly ruled offside and had to be pointed out by the video referee about the foul.
Otherwise, Siebert didn’t seem very confident in leading the emotional and intense game. At the end of the first half, Siebert denied Uruguay a possible penalty kick and after a good hour a crystal-clear one too, although the video assistant had asked him to study the video images again after Daniel Amartey had clearly fouled Darwin Núñez.
The sticking point of the game was Ghana’s missed penalty. The Africans reacted stunned and shocked and quickly conceded two goals. Uruguay, meanwhile, showed their best tournament performance so far and acted much more passionately than in the last two games against South Korea (0-0) and Portugal (0-2). Coach Diego Alonso’s side also coped well with the injury-related early absence of Tottenham Hotspur leader Rodrigo Betancur after just over half an hour.
Ghana’s national coach Addo reacted at half-time and took both the penalty-missing shooter and his brother Jordan Ayew off the field. With renewed courage, Ghana caused everything again and were even lucky that Siebert denied the penalty after Amartey’s foul Uruguay. But Uruguay played confidently and routinely until the end, although Ghana never gave up. Soon to be 36, Suárez was substituted after 65 minutes to great cheers from Uruguay’s fans. But upon learning of South Korea’s winner, the Uruguay superstar collapsed on the bench in shock and buried his face under his jersey.