Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Cardiff: Korea Republic were the second representatives of Asia to advance to the Olympic Men's Football Tournament London 2012 semi-final as they emerged as 5-4 penalty shootout winners over the Team Great Britain in a marathon quarter-final held at Cardiff on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Lee Bum-young saved a vital penalty from Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and Celtic striker Ki Sung-yueng converted the fifth Korean penalty to record a hard-fought win as the match was tied 1-1 during regulation as well as extra times.
Earlier, Ji Dong-won opened Korea Republic’s lead in the 29th minute with a long-range effort in front of the strong 70,000 Cardiff crowd but the lead was short lived as Welshman Aaron Ramsey equalised six minutes later after Oh Jaesuk appeared handling the ball inside Korea’s penalty area.
The night’s hero goal-keeper Bum-young was the busiest of the goal-keepers as he earlier denied the hosts by saving another of Ramsey’s penalty awarded four minutes after the first penalty after Hwang Seo-kho challenged Sturridge inside the penalty area.
"The only thing that I told them was to keep calm and kick the ball with confidence," Korean coach Hong Myung-bo told reporters after the match.
"I asked the players to make it very difficult for (Britain) to play its own game," coach Hong, whose side will take on tournament favourites Brazil on Tuesday at Old Trafford.
Given the run of fixtures, there is a strong possibility of Asian rivals Japan and Korea Republic playing for the gold as Japan will take on Mexico on the same day at Wembley.