Korea left to play waiting game for Round of 32
Korean fans were reduced to supporting Japan on Friday morning, in the hope that the old rival could help bring about a place in the Round of 32. In the end, the Samurai Blue did not defeat Sweden by the needed two goals. The 1-1 draw made Korea’s chances of squeezing through to the knockout stage a little less likely. After the dismal 1-0 defeat to South Africa a day earlier, the Taeguk Warriors dropped into third-place in Group A and into a state of limbo of having to wait and see what happens elsewhere. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups of four advance automatically into the Round of 32. There they are joined by eight of the best performing third-placed teams. This is where Korea currently finds itself and needs to rely on the results of others. "I personally didn't want to end up in this kind of situation, where we have to wait and see if we will reach the knockouts,” Son Heung-min said. “It's disappointing that we didn't get the outcome we deserved, considering the amount of hard work we've done, but it's out of our hands now and we will have to accept our fate, wh
