Following his side's win over Portugal in their Group Stage FIFA World Cup match, South Korea assistant head coach Sergio Costa said that the current team is very well-organised and has high individual skills and it is something that the side wants to improve on.
Hwang Hee-Chan's goal in stoppage time helped South Korea stun Portugal 2-1 in their last Group H match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 being played here at the Education City Stadium. With this win, the Koreans made it to the pre-quarters.
"I cannot compare these two teams (the current team with the 2002 South Korea team which made it to the semis in World Cup). I watched the World Cup in 2002 on TV, I did not know the Korean players personally. Since we started working with them I could watch a few games in the past but I cannot make a comparison," said Sergio as quoted by Sky Sports.
"What it is now, is a team very well-organised, with players who have high individual skills. That's something we want to continue to develop. We want to hone their skills to improve them game after game."
"We move forward, focusing on individual games, our defence, but also on our attack. That is something we are very much proud of. We see those players with strong personalities, they deserve the result. They deserve what we have accomplished," he concluded.
The 2016 Euro Champions started off aggressively taking the lead in the fifth minute of the match. Diogo Dalot's assist helped Ricardo Horta take a right-footed shot from very close range to the high centre of the goal.
Ten minutes later Portugal tried hard again as Joao Cancelo's right-footed shot from a difficult angle on the left was saved in the bottom right corner. Pepe also tried a through ball but this time Cancelo was caught offside.
South Korea made their first aggressive move in the 16th minute when Son Heung-Min's right-footed attempt with the help of Jung Woo-Young's assist from the left side of the box was blocked.
In the next minute, Jung Woo-Young tried a through ball but Kim Jin-Su was caught offside.
Finally, in the 27th minute, South Korea managed to level the score 1-1 when Kim Young-Gwon's left foot shot from very close range to the centre of the goal following a corner.
In the 30th minute, Pepe tried a through ball but Cristiano Ronaldo was caught offside. Both the teams entered into half-time with the score level at 1-1.
Both teams made many attempts in the second half but failed to score. The match went to the stoppage time where Son Heung-Min's assist helped Hee-Chan take a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner to give their team a 2-1 win and make it to pre-quarters.
Portugal had six shots on target and so did South Korea. In terms of possession, Portugal was far ahead having 62 per cent while Korea had only 38.
( With inputs from ANI )
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