The die has been cast

Three 'outsiders' in quarterfinals signals change in game

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CNNSI.com's World Cup analyst Gabriele Marcotti is covering every kick of the tournament, with a "91st Minute" column filed each matchday. Click here to submit a comment or question to Marcotti's mailbag.

One co-host (Japan) goes out, but another (South Korea) storms into the quarterfinal with a sensational golden-goal win, 2-1 against Italy.

Alex Del Piero got his first start of this World Cup by popular demand on Tuesday, alongside Christian Vieri and Francesco Totti, which meant both teams had three putative strikers. Guus Hiddink stuck to his familiar 3-4-3, Ahn Jung-Hwan down the middle.

Spurred on by a magnificent crowd in Daejeon, the South Koreans looked to have gotten a dream start when Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno awarded a penalty kick for some fairly blatant shirt-pulling by the Italian defense. Up stepped Ahn (who ironically plays for Perugia in Serie A), but goalkeeper Gigi Buffon managed to save his penalty. It amounted to something of a swing in momentum. In the 18th minute, Christian Vieri powered a header into the back of the net off a corner kick, giving Italy the lead.

Giovanni Trapattoni's men could have made it 2-0 in the 37th minute after some wonderful play by Francesco Totti set up Damiano Tommasi, but goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae pulled off an amazing save to snuff out the shot before the defense cleared.

South Korea turned on the heat after the break, and Italy countered by taking off Del Piero and throwing on Gennaro Gattuso. As the minutes ticked by, it was the co-hosts who provided most of the sustained pressure, though Italy was proving dangerous on the break. Hiddink went for broke, bringing in Cha Doo-ri and Hwang Sun-Hong, both of whom provided more offensive firepower.

Two minutes from the end, Italy capitulated. It was Seol Ki-Hyeon who pounced on a botched clearance by Christian Panucci and beat Toldo, leveling the score at 1-1. Almost immediately afterwards Vieri missed what might be the chance of the tournament, firing wide in front of an open goal, and the game went to extra time.

Galvanized by the equalizer, South Korea stormed forward and kept the Italians under pressure with several good chances.

Italy was dealt a huge blow towards the end of the first extra-time period when Totti was booked for diving. It was his second yellow and he was sent off, leaving Italy with 10 men. On the replay, it looked a very harsh decision indeed. Lee Woon-jae pulled off another stellar save off Gattuso, before Ahn redeemed himself for the missed penalty by rising into the Daejeon sky and sinking Italy, giving South Korea the most dramatic of victories.

Italy paid the price for perhaps not pushing harder for a second goal when it had the game under control and was up 1-0. Odds are, they will be blaming the officiating, and, while it was rather dubious on several occasions, it does not change the fact that Italy should never have put itself in this position.

But that does not detract one bit from South Korea's performance -- a mixture of guts, self-belief and attacking mentality. They were handsomely repaid for believing until the very end, and a quarterfinal against Spain is their reward. They fully earned it.

Tears all around for Japan and its wonderful fans after the rain-soaked 1-0 loss to Turkey on Tuesday. Phillippe Troussier's men came in with high expectations after winning two of their three group games (and coming very close in the third against Belgium), but on the day, Japan looked a shadow of the team we admired in the first round.

Troussier switched things around, presenting a brand-spanking new striking tandem up front, with Alex Santos and Akinori Nishizawa preferred to Takayuki Suzuki and Atsushi Yanagisawa. It was a surprising choice and one Japan would come to regret.

Turkey, without the suspended Emre Belozoglu and Emre Asik, got the early goal it was looking for after 12 minutes when Umit Davala converted an unmarked header.

The co-hosts came storming back with lots of enthusiasm but little organization. Alex Santos hit the post, but Japan had trouble breaking through against a tight, hard-working Turkish defense. At halftime, Troussier took off Junichi Inamoto and Alex Santos, throwing on Suzuki and Daisuke Ichikawa. It was a surprising move as Inamoto (despite having a hand in conceding the corner that led to Turkey's goal) and Santos had looked dangerous.

The substitutions did little to change the flow of the game. Japan ran its heart out, but Turkey responded in kind, shutting down the opposition and looking dangerous on the counterattack. Japan, despite perhaps its worst performance in the competition, can be proud of a solid World Cup. There is lots of potential there, though Troussier won't be around to lead the team (it's rumored that he's been short-listed for the France job).

Turkey, playing in its second-ever World Cup (and its first in 48 years) will now be facing a quarterfinal clash with Senegal. It's a great achievement that will guarantee that at least one of the surprise packages of the tournament will make it to the semifinal.

Ahn Jung-Hwan (South Korea). His penalty miss was terrible, but he is a hero nonetheless for the way he battled on and never gave up, refusing to let the miss affect his game. And he was repaid with a dramatic goal that will forever seal his place in Korean history.

Philippe Troussier (Japan). He had an excellent chance against Turkey, but he tinkered unnecessarily with the lineup. You can also question his use of Shinji Ono a wingback, which often left the Feyenoord man on the periphery of the match. More importantly, he failed to give his men the self-belief they needed to overcome Turkey.

Umit Davala (Turkey). The marking wasn't very tight, but his timing and execution were perfect. A well-taken and timely goal that lifts Turkey to a historic quarterfinal clash with Senegal.

In the history of the World Cup, only one team from outside Europe (UEFA) or South America (CONMEBOL), has made it as far as the semifinals of the World Cup. It happened 72 years ago, in the first-ever World Cup and, this may come as a surprise to some, it was the United States that reached the semifinal. Since then, we've had some close calls, none closer than Cameroon, which was just seven minutes away before giving up late penalties to England in 1990. This time, however, there are three such teams in the quarterfinals, more than ever before. Is this a sign of a New World Order? Perhaps it's premature to suggest that. But it's undeniable that the game has changed. It is as global as it has always been; the difference is that the rest of the world is catching up with the European and South American aristocrats. A century of history won't be erased in a single month and it's entirely possible that the next World Cup, in Germany, will be an entirely European and South American. But the die has been cast.

The World Cup takes its first day off since the opener on May 31, when Senegal shocked France to start a string of surprising results. The quarterfinals begin Friday, with: England-Brazil and Senegal-Turkey on one side of the bracket, and United States-Germany and Spain-South Korea on the other.

How can you nominate the Jamaican referee in the Brasil-Belgium game for goat of the day for disallowing Wilmots goal when it was clear that he pushed Roque Jr. (By the way in "Football" parlance it's called obstruction) but yet the referee in the USA-Mexico game "didn't see" O'Brien's hand? --Jude, Boston, MA Here you are trashing referees yet again. I saw Wilmots pulling up Roque Junior's shirt. The call was accurate. Where was your sense of high dudgeon when the Belgian defender sent the ball off of his arm to his keeper? I would not call you an ignorant fool, but I think that you are very full of yourself. Do you eat a steady diet of crow? --Randy Paul, Jackson Heights, NY Answer: I've been eating plenty of crow, rest assured. It's high in protein and I think you guys might want to eat some as well. Referee Peter Prendergast has admitted that he made a mistake in disallowing Wilmots' goal after watching the TV replays, according to Wilmots. So perhaps what was so obvious to Jude and Randy wasn't so obvious to Prendergast himself. Credit to Prendergast for admitting his mistake, just like the assistant referee in the Croatia vs. Italy game. By the way, as far as referees are concerned, there is nothing wrong with trashing them if you honestly think they made mistakes, i.e. had poor games. We have no problem criticizing players who make mistakes; why should referees be immune from criticism? Especially since the referees themselves are being judged by FIFA. In case you didn't know, referees are not nameless, faceless beings; there is a hierarchy and a ranking just as there is with teams. Some are better than others. There is one thing about Prendegast that I found really worrying, and I believe FIFA should step in immediately and issue clear guidelines. Prendergast apparently watched the video replays at halftime. He should have not have done that until after the game. There is a serious risk that if a referee knows he made a mistake earlier in the match, he might be influenced in the way he calls the rest of the match. There is absolutely no reason to undermine an official's confidence during a game (it's especially perverse when the official does it to himself by watching replays). The problem can best be avoided by ensuring that no referee watches any replays until the game is over. Click here to read Marcotti's most recent mailbag, and here to submit a comment or question.

 

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