Korea's Olympic dream off to nightmare start

 

Hwang Ui-jo of South Korea, left, battles Gianni Stensness of New Zealand during the teams' Group B match at the Tokyo Olympic men's football tournament at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium in Kashima, Japan, Thursday. South Korea lost 1-0. Yonhap
Hwang Ui-jo of South Korea, left, battles Gianni Stensness of New Zealand during the teams' Group B match at the Tokyo Olympic men's football tournament at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium in Kashima, Japan, Thursday. South Korea lost 1-0. Yonhap

By John Duerden

South Korea's quest for a soccer Olympic medal got off to a terrible start Thursday with a 1-0 loss to New Zealand in Kashima in the opening game of Group B. Burnley striker Chris Wood scored with his team's only shot of the game in the second half. Korea dominated in hot and humid conditions but rarely looked like scoring and now, there is no more room for error in the coming games against Romania and Honduras.

Wood showed what Korea lacked on the day ― a forward who just needs a sniff of goal to make it count. The English Premier League 스포츠토토사이트 had barely seen the ball all game but there was always a sense of him needing just one chance, and so it happened.

As expected, Korea had the better of the early exchanges, with New Zealand having just 27 percent of the possession in the first half. The Taeguk Warriors looked faster and caused problems from the off without creating too many chances. Hwang Ui-jo found himself in space just a few meters out but the ball would not fall quickly enough and goalkeeper Michael Woud managed to smother the danger.

He had to make a genuine save shortly after. A cross from the right found Hwang unmarked in the area and the striker had time to pick his spot but the header was just a little too close to Woud and he made the stop. Shortly after Kwon Chang-hoon shot just over. At half-time, there could be little doubt that New Zealand, who didn't manage a single shot in the first 45 minutes, was happier to be level than the Koreans.

After the break, Korea continued to enjoy possession and continued to push forward without testing the goalkeeper too much. As the game progressed, New Zealand began to show a little more ambition and moved a little higher up the field which suited the Asian team. After 66 minutes however, Korea had its best chance. Substitute Lee Dong-gyeong had time on the edge of the area but while it was a good effort and we will never know if it would have beaten Woud as it was cleared by a defender.

Just after this, disaster struck and New Zealand scored with their first real attempt. All knew that Wood would need just one chance to score. The ball squeezed through to the English Premier League striker and he shot past Song Bum-keun. It was initially ruled out for offside before VAR intervened.

The Kiwis would have settled for 0-0, and so were thrilled to take the lead. The goal also meant that they could sit back once more and do as much as possible to deny Korea space, slow the game down and eat the minutes.

Korea was always going to lay siege to the opposition goal. Song min-kyu should have done better from close range but there was not much more than that and it all ended in a frustrating fashion.

What it all means is obvious: Sunday's game against Romania is now a must-win. Another defeat and the Olympic dream is over. A draw would probably just keep it alive. There is still time to turn it around but there can't be any more slip-ups and there has to be a bit more quality.


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