Head to head, Uruguay and South Korea have met twice, with the former world champions having the upper hand on both occasions. Their last encounter say Uruguay emerge victorious 2-1 in the round of 16 phase of the 2010 World Cup. Nevertheless, with so many twists and turns already happening in this year’s tournament, this match was an interesting one to watch.
Both sides compete for the first few possessions of the game in an effort to create a scoring opportunity. First corner of the game is awarded to South Korea seven minutes into the first half. Captain Son Heung-min takes the corner while wearing a face mask due to a facial injury he suffered before the game. After the Uruguayan defenders fumble slightly, he fires a sweet curl into the Uruguayan defensive zone, which is cleared away by the forward Nunez.
Federico Valverde attempts the game’s first potentially game-winning chance at the Korean goal about fifteen minutes into the first half. As he led his team’s midfield in this match at Education City, the Real Madrid star was putting the South Korean team on notice. Despite all odds, South Korea has performed admirably in preventing Uruguay from scoring, if not by doing so themselves. In the first 20 minutes of the first half, they had an advantage over Uruguay in terms of ball possession.
Hwang Ui-jo attempts an incredible strike from 8 yards away from the Uruguayan goal with 36 minutes left to play, but it just misses the bar. The first prime scoring opportunity for South Korea. The South American goliaths’ hearts skipped a beat when Ui-Jo just missed the goal. There were a few more scoring chances, including a thunderous header by seasoned defender Diego Godin that narrowly missed the post. The first half came to a close without a goal being scored as the Koreans attempted to take advantage of some well-crafted scoring opportunities that were all stopped by the Uruguayan defense.
The Uruguayans start the second half with a string of impressive plays as the Koreans manage to avoid disaster. Son Heung-min takes a corner in just over 50 minutes, but Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet palms it away. Nunez attempted to score on his own at the 65-minute mark rather than helping Suarez, who was then replaced by Edinson Cavani. Yet another opportunity gone squandered
At 83 minutes, Nunez had a decent chance to score when he curled a right-footed shot from outside the box with Cavani’s pass. In the second half, Uruguay kept the majority of the ball while attempting to generate numerous scoring opportunities but failing to convert any of them. Both teams have an additional eight minutes of extra time to score the game-winning goal. However, since the referee has already declared the game over, that doesn’t happen. To hold the former world champions to a draw, South Korea did remarkably well. The game concludes without a goal!
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