South Korea pulled off a remarkable comeback win over Portugal in their final World Cup group game to book a place in the knockout stages at the expense of Uruguay on the narrowest of tie-breaker margins – it went all the way down to goals scored.
An equaliser from centre-back Kim Young-gwon and a last-gasp winner from substitute Hwang Hee-chan were enough to secure the win that resulted in South Korean tears of joy.
Portugal were already assured of a place in the next round before kick-off, but South Korea needed a win to have any hope of reaching the last 16 for the first time since 2010. And it was the worst possible start in that sense when Ricardo Horta netted early for the Europeans.
South Korea thought they had equalised just over 10 minutes later when a wide free-kick from Son Heung-min gave Kim Jin-su the chance to turn in a rebound following a decent reflex Diogo Costa save. But the offside flag was quickly up.
It was a set-piece warning that Portugal didn’t heed. So when the ball came into the box again just before the half hour mark, South Korea were back in it. Cristiano Ronaldo turned his back instead of attempting to clear, which saw the ball drop perfectly at the feet of Kim Y.G. – he couldn’t miss.
Right after getting back on level terms, goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu made a top save to deny Ronaldo. An eventual flag ensured it wouldn’t have counted, but neither party was to know.
Kim S.G. remained fairly busy until half-time, saving well from Diogo Dalot, Vitinha and Horta before the interval. The stop from Vitinha rebounded to Ronaldo, who strained every sinew in his neck to get the difficult diving header on target, but couldn’t.
South Korea had a clear gameplan, trying to keep it tight at the back and spring forward when possible, but it wasn’t until after half-time that they created a few more counter attack chances from open play rather than relying on set-pieces.
Portugal still had the lion’s share of possession, yet Kim S.G. was the less busy of the two goalkeepers compared with the first half. Diogo Costa, meanwhile, had to be alert midway through the second half to beat away a powerful effort from Hwang In-beom.
With substitutions from both sides disrupting the rhythm, the game looked as though it was petering out into a draw, which wasn’t enough for South Korea. But as the clock ticked into stoppage time and Portugal fired a corner into the box, the ball broke to Son H.M. for the perfect counter attack.
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