In the early morning of February 3, Beijing time, the Qatar Asian Cup ushered in the two most promising teams, South Korea and Australia, ranked 25th in Asia, respectively.
Australia made it to the quarter-finals with a win over Indonesia. South Korea's match against Saudi Arabia was equalized by Cho Gyu-sung in the 99th minute. After 120 minutes of hard-fought play and penalty shootouts, South Korea finally defeated Saudi Arabia and reached the quarterfinals.
The downside for South Korea is that they not only have to play in extra time, but they also have to miss two days of vacation, which is a huge challenge for their physical fitness.
Once the match began, the South Korean team played to their strengths, avoiding physical contact as much as possible and using more skill to control the tempo of the game. As long as you find an opportunity, you can immediately launch a long pass from behind the Australian defender, with a small big and a small big big, to tear up the Australian defence.
In the 18th minute, Mettafe scored with a long-range shot from outside the box, the first goal for both sides. The battles, while intense, are not exciting enough.
Two minutes later, Australia missed a great chance to score. Goodwin's powerful shot, Cho Hyun-woo took the ball to the penalty area**, and Duke hit the ball in a big arc with a half-open shot.
While Koreans seem to be active, there are few good opportunities.
In the 31st minute, Son Heung-min made a beautiful diagonal pass, Xue Yingyou's low flat ball was tackled by Hwang Hee-chan and hit the goal, the referee raised the flag to signal offside, VAR verified and agreed to the penalty.
In the 42nd minute, Hwang In-beom made a mistake on a pass and Mettaaff passed the ball to Goodwin, who stepped back and fired a high shot.
In the first half, South Korea controlled 70% of the football but didn't hit a single kick, which was humiliating enough, while Australia hit two of their six.
More than three minutes into the opening half of the second half, Li Gangren's shot outside the penalty area was insufficient, the angle was not large, soft, no strength, no strength, no strength, no strength.
In the case of falling behind, if they attack aggressively, they are likely to lay a mine on the defensive end. In the 55th minute of the game, South Korea almost conceded two goals.
The Australian broke through South Korea's defence with a simple pass from the wing, Boyle's header was ferried, Cho Hyun-woo made a wonderful save, Duke opened the bow, but unfortunately shot high, and was finally saved by the South Korean team.
Australia seems to have seized on South Korea's soft underbelly, leaving them helpless and unable to attack normally. Although they controlled the ball, South Korea always scratched their cheeks through their boots.
On the contrary, the Australians' counterattack gave the Koreans a sense of being attacked. Duke missed a great chance in the 83rd minute, he missed a great chance.
In the 94th minute, Son Heung-min broke through the four-man defense, rushed into the penalty area, fell to the ground, and was awarded a penalty by the referee.
In the 96th minute, Hwang Hee-chan equalized the score with a powerful free kick, and the South Korean team, which scored three goals in a row in 90 minutes, once again staged a scene of 1/8 final against Saudi Arabia.
At the start of extra time, the South Koreans attacked twice in a row, and Ryan made a good save in the game.
After two days of rest, the Australian's fitness quickly declined and it became more difficult to carry the ball.
In the 104th minute, South Korea got a free kick in the penalty area, and Son Heung-min hit the ball into the corner of the goal with a beautiful world wave to pull one back for South Korea.
O'Neal was sent off for a yellow card at the end of the first half, and Australia never had a chance to turn over. In the second half of extra time, neither side scored.
In the end, Son Heung-min's penalty kick in the 95th minute and a free kick in the 104th minute helped South Korea beat Australia 2-1, and the humiliation of losing the Asian Cup nine years ago advanced to the semi-finals.