bluesfan94
Registered User
Teams: Brazil v. South Korea
Time and Date (CST): Monday, December 5, 2022, 1:00 PM
Venue: Stadium 974
Storyline: South Korea's inclusion in the Round of 16 continues a trend of strong Asian confederation performances, while Brazil making it out of their group was rather predictable, albeit with a surprising final result. Brazil entered the tournament as one of the presumptive favorites, loaded with talent, both young and old, throughout their lineup. Led by superstar Neymar, Brazil's attack is one of the best in the world, and has the depth to cover for injuries, which did afflict Brazil, as Neymar missed the country's last two group stage matches with an ankle injury and backup striker Gabriel Jesus went home with a knee injury. Even with those injuries, Brazil beat Serbia with a couple second half Richarlison goals, including one that has an argument to be the goal of the tournament. They followed that win with a hard-fought victory over Switzerland, on another late goal, this time by Casemiro. Brazil was already through by the last match and rotated heavily against Cameroon, who surprised the favorites on a stoppage time winner by Aboubakar, who then got sent off for his shirt removal celebration. Still, Brazil won its group on goal differential and will go into its Round of 16 the favorites against the South Korean side.
Unlike its opponent, many pundits were not confident in South Korea's ability to get out of its group. Placed in a tough group, with Portugal, Ghana, and Uruguay, a pre-tournament injury to South Korea's star player, Tottenham's Son Heung-min, made advancement seem unlikely. However, Son recovered enough to play in the Cup (albeit with a mask) and South Korea continued a trend of strong Asian performances, bolstered by Japan and Australia also advancing to the Round of 16 while Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina. However, even going into the very end of the final matchday, Korea's advancement was far from certain. Their World Cup began with a tough albeit uneventful 0-0 draw with Uruguay, who many touted as a potential dark horse. South Korea then lost a fun back and forth affair with Ghana, that ended 3-2 in favor of the African side. This set up a win-or-go-home (and a win was not a guarantee) matchup against 2016 European champions, Portugal. An early Portuguese goal dampened hopes, which were uplifted by a 27th minute goal for Korea. However, Portugal controlled the second half and looked to put the South Korean hopes to bed. Portugal had a late corner early in stoppage time which was won by South Korea and Son Heung-min broke down the field. Son played in Hwang Hee-chan, who made a long box-to-box sprit and was suddenly in on goal. A tidy finish put South Korea in position to qualify, but they still had to wait for a result in the other match, as another Uruguay goal (or two Ghanaian goals) would send the Koreans home. While there were some close calls, Uruguay could not find a finish and South Korea rejoiced.
This will be the 8th meeting of these teams, with Brazil winning 6 and South Korea 1. Interestingly, these teams met in a friendly earlier this year, a match in which Brazil won handily, scoring two penalties and winning 5-1.
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