Question marks have been raised over South Korea’s draw with lowly Malaysia as they prevented a showdown with Japan on the Asian Cup.
Korea are one of many favourites for glory on the event, which is at present being performed in Qatar, the scene of the final World Cup. A win of their closing group match would have despatched them by way of as group winners, however arrange a grudge match in opposition to bitter rivals Japan, who surprisingly completed second of their group behind Iraq.
Korea trailed 2-1 going into the ultimate 10 minutes however the sport turned because of Syihan Hazmi’s 83rd-minute personal aim and a penalty from Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, 4 minutes into added time. However, the drama wasn’t over, because the match continued nicely previous the 100-minute mark.
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In the a hundred and fifth minute – when 12 minutes of added time had really been introduced – Romel Morales squeezed dwelling a slightly soft-looking aim from the sting of the field to set off wild celebrations among the many Malaysian gamers and supporters. Not as a result of that they had gone by way of themselves, however as a result of the facet ranked a hundred and thirtieth on the earth had simply secured their first-ever level on the Asian Cup.
The draw meant South Korea will undergo in second place behind Bahrain. So as an alternative of enjoying Japan – essentially the most profitable nation within the event’s historical past – they’ll face Saudi Arabia or Thailand within the final 16, a a lot easier-looking sport on paper.
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(Image: Masashi Hara/Getty Images)
The end result noticed some followers query whether or not Korea have been a lot happier with a draw. One shortly identified: “Koreans avoid Japan [laughing face emoji].” Another said: “That’s done on purpose imao.”
A 3rd declared: “Japan and South Korea are shocking this competition. And they are 1 and 2 in Asia.” Other followers have been shocked on the quantity of added time performed. One stated: “15 minutes of injury time is mad.”