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Korea keeps on dreaming Ahn Jung-hwan's golden goal sends out ItalyPosted: Tuesday June 18, 2002 7:05 AMUpdated: Tuesday June 18, 2002 11:46 AM
TAEJON, South Korea (Reuters) -- Ahn Jung-hwan headed a golden goal winner to put co-host South Korea into the quarterfinals of the World Cup with a 2-1 win over 10-man Italy on Tuesday after one of the most dramatic matches of the tournament. With a penalty shootout looming, Ahn, who had missed a penalty after five minutes of normal time, leapt high to glance in the 116th minute winner after three-time champion Italy had looked a likely winner for much of the match. Two minutes from the end of regular time, the raucous crowd of 39,000 had been sent into raptures when Seol Ki-hyeon latched on to a Christian Panucci error to rap the ball into the right-hand bottom corner to equalise an 18th minute Christian Vieri goal. "I'm very, very happy, I'm very satisfied," said Korean coach Guus Hiddink whose team now play Spain on Saturday. "They are one of the superpowers of football. I think this is unique what the Korean players have done so far."
The defeat was pure agony for Italy who had Francesco Totti controversially sent off for diving in extra time and also had a Damiano Tommasi goal disallowed for offside which looked a doubtful decision by Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno. In Italy, fans were convinced the match was fixed and one minister said the refereeing had been "absolutely scandalous" but Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni refused to be drawn on the subject. (Fatal goal stuns Italy) He said only: "The winners should have been Italy. We had far, far more chances -- but Korea showed heart. "I'd say we we're going out with our heads held high but with a lot to be bitter about." His team are the latest fancied former winner to fall following pre-tournament favorites France and Argentina who were knocked out in the first round. Italy had reached the quarterfinals in five out of the last six World Cups, failing only in 1986. Before this tournament, Korea had not won a game in five previous World Cups and this shock victory mirrors the 1-0 win by North Korea over Italy in the 1966 tournament in England. It will be all the sweeter for Korea after its co-host and archrival Japan saw its own hopes of progressing dashed with a 1-0 defeat by Turkey earlier in the day. (Korea celebrates historic win)
Golden goal The Italians lost the European Championship final two years ago to France on a golden goal also after a late equalizer in normal time. It has also been knocked out of its last three World Cups including the 1994 final against Brazil on penalties. A simple headed goal from Vieri looked to have put three-time champion Italy through when he met a corner from the left at the near post to net. Korea was rueing a missed fifth-minute penalty kick by Ahn -- Korea's only Italian-based player, with Perugia -- whose drive was saved by keeper Gianluigi Buffon. Italy failed to quieten the partisan crowd but it seemed to have drawn the sting of Korea until Seol pounced in the area as Panucci fluffed a clearance with a quarterfinal meeting with Spain beckoning for his country. A minute later, Vieri had the chance to snatch the victory for Italy but he skied high from a couple of meters out as Korea was caught on the break. In extra time dominated by Korea, Totti went tumbling in the area under a challenge but instead of awarding a penalty as the Italians hoped, the referee booked him for a second time and he was controversially dismissed. Quicksilver soccer In the first half, Korea had largely failed to recreate the quicksilver soccer which had brought it through the group stage of the tournament but it was given the opportunity for a flying start. Referee Moreno judged Panucci to have tugged Seol to the ground as they jostled for position at a corner kick. Ahn hit his spotkick low and hard to Buffon's right but the big goalkeeper got down well and parried the ball to safety. Vieri made Korea pay 13 minutes later, escaping his marker to find the net with a trademark goal-poacher's header. His goal took his World Cup finals tally to nine, equalling an Italian record. The penalty miss, and the Italian goal, appeared to take the wind out of the Koreans, although it did little to stem the incessant chanting and drumming from almost 40,000 red-shirted fans in Taejon's World Cup stadium. Italy captain Paolo Maldini marshalled the Italian back line superbly and Trapattoni's team hardly seemed to miss the absence of the injured Alessandro Nesta and suspended Fabio Cannavaro. Korea's best chance came early in the second half when Ahn skewed a shot over the free kick after the Koreans had surprised the Italian centerbacks with a quick free kick. Italian leftback Francesco Coco played most of the match with a bandaged head after recieving a nasty gash above his left eye just before the break. Coco was accidently elbowed in the face by teammate Damiano Tomassi as the two players went up to defend a corner. Del Piero in, Totti out for Italy; Korea unchangedTAEJON, South Korea (Reuters) -- Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni named Alessandro Del Piero in his starting lineup for its World Cup second round match against South Korea on Tuesday, but center back Alessandro Nesta was ruled out. Del Piero, who came on as a substitute and scored the equalizer in Italy's 1-1 draw with Mexico, makes his first start up front with Christian Vieri, with Filippo Inzaghi dropping to the bench. As expected, Mark Iuliano replaces Nesta, who failed to recover from a foot injury, while Francesco Coco came in for suspended defender Fabio Cannavaro. South Korea coach Guus Hiddink opted for striker Ahn Jung-hwan, who scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw with the United States, leaving Hwang Sun-hong on the bench as he still awaits his 100th cap. Score Summary:South Korea 2 Italy 1 - result, golden goal World Cup, second round Scorers: South Korea - Seol Ki-hyeon 88, Ahn Jung-hwan 116 Italy - Christian Vieri 18 Red card: Italy - Francesco Totti 103 Yellow cards: South Korea - Kim Tae-young 17, Song Chong-gug 80, Lee Chun-soo 99, Choi Jin-Cheul 115 Italy - Francesco Coco 4, Francesco Totti 22, Damiano Tommasi 55, Cristiano Zanetti 59 Halftime: 0-1; Attendance: 38,588 Teams:South Korea: (3-5-2) 1-Lee Woon-jae; 4-Choi Jin-Cheul, 7-Kim Tae-young (18-Hwang Sun-hong 63), 20-Hong Myung-bo; 5-Kim Nam-il (14-Lee Chun-soo 68), 6-Yoo Sang-chul, 10-Lee Young-pyo, 21-Park Ji-sung, 22-Song Chong-gug (16-Cha Doo-ri 83); 19-Ahn Jung-hwan, 9-Seol Ki-hyeon Italy: (4-3-1-2) 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 4-Franceso Coco, 3-Paolo Maldini, 15-Mark Iuliano, 2-Christian Panucci; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta (16-Angelo Di Livio 72), 17-Damiano Tommasi, 6-Cristiano Zanetti; 10-Francesco Totti; 7-Alessandro Del Piero (8-Gennaro Gattuso 61), 21-Christian Vieri Referee : Byron Moreno (Ecuador) Linesmen: Jorge Rattalino (Argentina), Ferenc Szekely (Hungary)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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