South Korea progress in Asian Cup after Saudi Arabia crumble in shootout
South Korea beat Saudi Arabia 4-2 in a penalty shootout to advance to the Asian Cup quarter-finals after a thrilling last-16 tie ended 1-1 after extra time at Education City Stadium.
After South Korea’s Cho Gue-sung equalised in second-half added time to cancel out Abdullah Radif’s opener, Sami al-Najei and Abdulrahman Ghareeb had their penalties saved by Jo Hyeon-woo to send South Korea through.
“I had confidence that I could make some saves for my team. I’m happy I could take my team through to the next round,” Jo told reporters.
South Korea converted all their penalties to advance but they will have only two days to recover after playing 120 minutes, with their quarter-final against 2015 champions Australia taking place on Friday.
“That’s the reason why I badly wanted to win our group,” South Korea coach Jürgen Klinsmann said. “Some people said I was happy not to top the group and avoid Japan. We didn’t win the group and we’ve paid the price. But this win has given this team more spirit.
I enjoy coaching this group and they badly want to do well for their country. We wanted to win before penalties, we didn’t count on a shootout.
“We will recover because we have a good atmosphere. We’re looking forward to Australia, they won 4-0 [against Indonesia]. This win tonight gives us a lot of optimism, belief and energy – which we will need to beat Australia.”
“Asia is Green” read a banner alongside one with a player in a Saudi kit crouching with one hand on the Asian Cup trophy, as the vocal fans bouncing in the stands created an atmosphere that felt like a home game for Roberto Mancini’s side. Yet it was the South Korean team playing in bright orange that prevailed after the Gulf nation and three-time champions ran out of gas in the dying stages of the match and crumbled under the pressure.
Saudi Arabia had the best chance of the first half when two headers from a corner crashed off the crossbar while a third destined for the top corner was parried away by goalkeeper Jo. At the other end, Son Heung-min was put through on goal twice but his tame efforts were easily saved as the half ended goalless.