By now, many fans would certainly have asked, “what makes South Korea looks so damn good in football?”. Well, that question would generate a plethora of answers from ginseng, Korean people's hardworking ethos, taekwondo, and the list goes on and on and on. However, I have to move on from all those almost cliched answers to something simpler. They simply look really good because their opponents let them do become so. The recently concluded match was the substantiation of my analysis. During the last 10 minutes or so of this game, the commentator commented that South Korea was flirting with elimination as they trailed Uruguay 2-1 at that point of time. I think Uruguay should not have done what they did right after each time they take a lead against the Koreans.
Uruguay actually started in an attacking manner and they duly scored early, through a combination of movements from Edinson Cavani, Forlan, and for Luis Suarez to shoot at the empty goal as the South Korean goalkeeper was stranded due to Forlan's low cross prior to the goal. At this point of time, I had expected more goals from Uruguay. However, Uruguay surprisingly decided to sit back and defend. The only attacking move they made was futile long balls towards Diego Forlan up front. It was futile as the long balls were simply dealt with by the tall Korean defenders very easily and the fact that Uruguay concentrated on defending gave plenty of space and thus chances for the Koreans to start attacking their goals. Bad decision by Uruguay because of several reasons firstly, to beat the South Koreans, a team, especially a South American team which is generally known for their multi-barreled attacking options have to make use of this advantage and overwhelm the Koreans. Just like how Argentina managed to do against them from the moment Sergio Aguero entered the fray. The match ended 4-1 for Argentina. Secondly, South American teams are well known to be having their defense, especially their goalkeepers as their weak link. Trying to defend with a not so good defense but an overwhelming attacking threat is simply not a rational decision. Lastly, South Korea is a team full of confidence. They believe they are capable of beating anybody on earth or even outside of it. Thus, give them plenty of chances to make attacking moves like what Uruguay were doing, and it is only a matter of when, not if that they are going to score against your team.
It happened a the 67th minute when Lee Chung Yong scored to make it 1-1. Although it came from an indirect free kick, nevertheless their pressure throughout the match on Uruguay paid off really handsomely. Uruguay were shocked and started to alter their tactics again to an attacking mode. It was also raining very heavily by this point of time in the match. They continued to threaten to score and they did through a marvelous swerving, curling shot by Luis Suarez at the 80th minute when he launched a sweetly struck long shot that curled into the net beautifully. 2-1 for Uruguay. By this time, I thought Uruguay had learned their lessons and continued to attack throughout the game to really kill the game off, just like what Argentina were doing against South Korea in their Group B match. Turned out that Uruguay again switched to the defensive mode and also went as far as subbing the excellent and heroic Luis Suarez with 10 minutes left. Wrong move, South Korea, this time also augmented with a sense of urgency, duly attacked and 10 minutes were more than enough time for South Korea to even score 2 goals if Uruguay is to defend. They were really fortunate not to concede further and was able to hold on to book their ticket to the last 8 as well as sending the Koreans all the way home although South Koreans would argue that the referee blew his full time whistle when there were around 8 seconds left to play and when South Korea were attacking at full speed from the right flank, but that's it.
Despite many people being too occupied and overwhelmed with Suarez's heroics, it masks the fact that Uruguay were so close to being eliminated no thanks to their mistake not to utilize their superiority in the attacking department to overwhelm and choke their opponents to submission while masking their own frailties at the back, especially between the goalposts. Nevertheless, congratulations Uruguay, and credits to the South Koreans for their gallant efforts in the tournament!
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