Korea digs deep for epic win over Uzbekistan
South Korea reaches semifinals -- Hwang Hee-chan, front, celebrates scoring the winning penalty in extra time in the Asian Games football game against Uzbekistan at the Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday. South Korea advanced to the semifinals after defeating Uzbekistan 4-3 in extra time. / Yonhap
By John Duerden
If South Korea wins gold at the 2018 Asian Games then fans and players will look back at the epic quarterfinal 4-3 win over Uzbekistan as the turning point.
It was a roller-coaster and with 15 minutes of the game remaining, the East Asian team was heading home with dreams of military exemption evaporating in the humid Indonesian air. But the young team showed spirit, determination and stamina to keep going until the last seconds of the 120 minutes when Hwang Hee-chan shot home the winning goal from the penalty spot.
Hwang Ui-jo was the real hero with three others. He gave Korea an early lead to reduce nerves with Son Heung-min heavily involved. It is strange to think that coach Kim Hak-bom was on the receiving end of some criticism for selecting Hwang as one of three overage players but the Japanese-based forward score his sixth goal of the tournament to get Korea off and running.
Son was in possession in the middle and under pressure from a number of Uzbek defenders. He did, however, manage to find Hwang on the right side who shot home.
The lead did not last too long. After 17 minutes, Lee Seung-mo was wrestled off the ball by Dostonbek Khamdamov who found Jaloliddin Masharipov to fire home.
Ten minutes before the break however Hwang grabbed his second and all was looking good. The red-hot hitman almost added his third before the break, rounding the goalkeeper only to see his shot blocked by a defender.
Not long into the second half however, it all went wrong. Poor defending from Korea allowed Uzbekistan to level once again eight minutes after the break. Ikromjon Alibaev was left alone at the far post and his low shot went through the legs of Song Bum-keun.
Then just moments later, Alibaev had the ball outside the area and his low shot would likely have been saved had it not spun off defender Hwang Hyun-soo and into the net to make it 3-2 for Uzbekistan.
Hwang Ui-jo, left, celebrates with national football team captain Son Heung-min after scoring his side’s first goal in the first half of the Asian Games football game against Uzbekistan at the Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday. Hwang scored a hat-trick and South Korea advanced to the semifinals after defeating Uzbekistan 4-3 in extra time. Yonhap
Things were getting desperate and with 15 minutes Hwang struck again. Son put the Uzbek defense under pressure and there was the Gamba Osaka man to score and allow his team-mates to breathe again.
Then the game went to extra time, not what two sets of tired players would have wanted. It got worse for the Central Asians inside the first period as Alibaev was shown a second yellow card and ejected from the field.
That gave Korea the advantage and the team pressed forward. With two minutes remaining and a penalty shootout looming, the break came. Hattrick hero Hwang Ui-jo was brought down in the area and despite the massive pressure, Hwang Hee-chan fired home to send Korea into the semifinal on Wednesday and a step closer to gold.
It wasn’t always pretty but the team dug deep and came up with the goods. Just two more games to go.