- Lee Bum-Young saves Great Britain’s final penalty kick, leading Korea to win the game and emerge to the semi-finals. (Photo Credit: AP/Luca Bruno)
When Korea’s soccer team entered the semi-finals in the 2002 World Cup, everyone was excited by the miracle, but no one expected it to happen again. But this year, in the 2012 London Olympics, the Korean team managed to pull it off once more…and this time, against Great Britain: one of the best-playing teams in the world.
On the morning of Aug. 5, the Korean men’s soccer team, which holds 28th place in the FIFA rankings, entered the quarterfinals against England’s team, which holds 4th place in the FIFA Rankings. Coach Hong Myung-Bo, the player that kicked the final penalty kick in the 2002 World Cup which led his team to enter the semi-finals, led the 2012 team into the same result.
In this game, both teams were constantly on the offensive. Each team shot well over five times, although those shots were not always successful. The second half ended at a tie of 1:1. By the fourth of the five penalty shots of the shoot-out, both teams had a score of 4:4. However, substitute goalkeeper Lee Bum-young blocked the fifth shot by Daniel Sturridge as Ki Sung-yeung kicked Korea’s last ball, and scored.
Koreans were clearly very excited with this achievement. Yujin Chong (15), rising sophomore of Korea International School, was overjoyed, commenting, “I’m very proud of my country, and it brings a great, nationalistic feeling just to call myself Korean.” Se June Han (20), rising freshman of Boston University, also stated that he was “very proud that [his] country could achieve such a feat, and surprised because [he] initially did not believe it possible.”
Not only were the Korean citizens elated; the confidence of the players themselves also took a boost. “We came to Great Britain to win a medal and the players are very confident that we can accomplish the goal in the remaining two matches,” said midfielder Ji Dong-Won.
The semi-finals against Brazil, which will determine whether Korea walks away with a medal or none at all, will occur on Aug. 8 at 3:45 a.m. Stay tuned for the final results.
Sources:
http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2957448&cloc=joongangdaily|home|newslist1
http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/index.html
