After a stunning win of 2-1 over Portugal, South Korea made it to the round of 16 as the penultimate team. The Group H fixture ended with a lot of excitement as the Asian team entered the knockout stage.
South Korea had a tie with Uruguay in the group with four points, but they had more goals and opened the doors to knockouts.
South Korea enters the round of 16
The Koreans fell behind in the fifth minute after a dashing strike from the Portuguese player Ricardo Horta before the equalizer came from Kim Young-Gwon in the 27th minute. However, a phenomenal strike from Hwang Hee-chan in the first minute of extra time set the stage for the Asian nation to enter the knockouts.
It’s the first time since 2010 South Area got into the round of 16.
The calculation that got the Asian nation into the knockouts
South Korea and Uruguay countries had four points by the end of group fixtures. However, South Korea finally stood second in group H to take their journey ahead in the tournament, whereas Uruguay had to exit. That’s because the Koreans had scored two more goals than the two-time World Cup champions.
Entering the concluding round of the group fixtures, both teams had one point each. The Koreans stood at three due to a better goal difference with Uruguay, and the latter was at the bottom. Then, South Korea’s 2-1 victory over the table toppers Portugal and Uruguay’s 2-0 win with Ghana, which was second with three points before the game, drew a tie between the two teams at four points.
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