Chapter 182 – There Is No Number of Cases (4)

182

At the long-awaited opening goal, the Korean cheering squad, who traveled all the way to Italy, let out cheers in unison.

How nervous were you?
The excitement of the Korean national team from the start was all the more valuable because it was a goal that was scored at the time when I was worried that I might be losing my stamina against the Argentine players who were only running hard and spinning the ball leisurely.

“Goal! Goal!! The first goal against Argentina!!”
“Shit, what did I say! Hong Min-joon said he would do it for you!!”
“Kyaaaaa Prince is so cool!! What can I do? It’s so fucking good!”
“Wow… Crazy Korea scored all the first goals in the World Cup. This is a real thing.”

When Hong Min-joon and the national team players, who rushed to the supporters’ seats filled with red devils, showed a performance of bowing down side by side, the cheers that seemed to be unable to grow any louder went up.

In particular, on the way back after the greeting, some of the women who had been screaming in high-pitched dolphin screams fainted when Hong Min-joon, who had been bowing until the end, kissed while holding the Taegeuk mark on his chest.

The players, unaware of the situation in the audience seats confused by shouts and screams, return to the ground, and the ball is placed on the center line again.

Only 14 minutes into the game.
A game that everyone expected Argentina to win overwhelmingly. With South Korea’s opening goal, the situation began to flow in an unexpected direction.

* * *

The Argentine players, who were hit by an opponent they did not even consider an opponent, were quietly enraged.

It’s a preemptive goal.
And that’s only for ‘Korea’.

Unexpectedly, they conceded the opening goal to the front pressure with threatening teamwork, but none of the Argentine players thought about defeat.

Just start the game
Even if you press forward like before, it doesn’t work this time.

During the Korean team’s annoyingly long ceremony, the Argentine players, who received the manager’s instructions, waited for the start, blazing with quiet anger.

And the game resumed.

‘Location… ?’
‘The formation!?’

The Korean team’s camp has changed.

“4-1-4-1?”

As if the high line up until now was a lie, the low four-back line.
And it was Yoon Hyuk, who played as an attacking midfielder, who stood in front of the defense, between the defense and the midfielder, at the number 1 position.

Yoon Hyuk, who changed his role to a holding role, forms a line with 4 midfielders again.

And most front.
Standing alone at the forefront… The coaching staff emphasized that he was the most dangerous player in the Korean team.

Despite having an Asian face that is similar and difficult to tell apart, he has an attractive appearance that is immediately recognizable and the protagonist of the first goal.

It was Hong Min-jun.

“Fucking Asian. He scored a goal, so he’s going to pull his ass back, right? Let’s see where it goes.”

Argentina is actively attacking.
As originally planned to deal with Korea, the Korean players are undoubtedly ridiculed by individual tactics with superior individual skills.

However, whenever a decisive opportunity arose, a player who appeared out of nowhere and interfered would block the equalizer until the end.

“What the hell is that bastard!”

35 minutes in the first half.
A 1:1 chance with the goalkeeper from a cutback after a brilliant side break.

The moment the goalkeeper is lightly passed, the ghost-like tackle kicks the ball away.
The gaze of the Argentine player who looked at the ball out of line in vain turned to the protagonist of the tackle.

A black-haired, black-eyed man casually brushing off the grass from his uniform, standing up and staring at him indifferently.

‘Is this guy a ghost….’

How could he appear at such a critical moment and interfere!

There was no end to Yoon-hyeok’s new arrivals.
Because throughout the game that day, Yoon Hyuk showed decisive defense again and again.

Although the Korean defense was robbed by the Argentine players’ personal tactics and gave them countless chances, Yoon Hyuk’s mad performance led to a scoreless game, and at the start of the second half, Hong Min-jun also beat 4 Argentine players with his own counterattack and 2 He scored the second goal and gave Korea their first victory.

Yoon Hyuk’s performance, which showed jaw-dropping defense several times like Guti’s ‘that day’, vomited his spirit to be selected as the MOM of this match, beating Hong Min-jun, who scored two goals against Argentina.

In general, in a winning game, MOM is given to the player who scores the goal or contributes the most to the goal. Although he assisted the opening goal, the fact that the MOM went to the defensive midfielder over the striker who scored 2 goals means that in this game, Proof that the performance of .

『Ojijeho’s new crown prince?』
『Yunhyuk who presented a showcase in front of European officials! Are you transferring to a big club?”
『Hamburg, crying over Yoon Hyuk’s performance, rushes to protect the ace! The key condition of the contract with two years remaining!』

And as a result of this game, Yoon Hyuk has emerged as a new World Cup star.

The next day, the second match of Group E, Switzerland vs. Nigeria, took place.
In the face of Nigeria’s fierce offensive, the African powerhouse ‘Super Eagles’, Switzerland responded with physical football with rice cake sticks.

With this match, Group E was in a chaotic situation that no one expected, and Korea, which was evaluated as the weakest in the group, ranked 1st, and Argentina, which was even considered a favorite for the championship, came in 4th place.

To say that this is only the first match, there are only 3 matches in the group stage.
It’s just one game, but it’s already been 1/3 of the group stage.

The team that was considered the weakest is in first place, the team that was considered to be in the top 1 is in last place, and the two teams that were expected to fight for second place draw and are in second place side by side. Outside.

2 games left.
The eyes of the four countries in Group E now turned to the second match, which will be held simultaneously four days later.

* * *

『Taegeuk Warriors who defeated the powerful Argentina! Our next opponent is Switzerland, our nemesis from 2006!』

Ahead of their second opponent, Switzerland, the Korean press titled this match as a “Revenge match.”

Switzerland, a country unfamiliar to Koreans, has only played one match in the World Cup, just like that unfamiliar image, but the title of ‘revenge match’ was attached because of the controversy at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where that one match took place.

2006 World Cup Germany final group stage match.
At that time, Korea recorded 1 win and 1 draw in the group stage played in 2 matches, and was ranked 2nd in the group with 4 points.

1st place in the group is occupied by Switzerland, which has the same points with 1 win and 1 draw, but leads by 1 goal difference.

France, the most likely candidate for first place, showed an unexpected sluggish performance and was in third place with two draws, while Togo was eliminated with two losses and was about to play its last game in the group stage to advance to the round of 16.

In order for Korea to advance to the round of 16, there were two options.
The surest way is to beat the last opponent, Switzerland, who is recording the same victory points with 1 win and 1 draw. In this way, 1st place in the group will advance to the round of 16.

The other is Togo winning more than a draw against France.
However, it was difficult to expect that Togo, which was eliminated with 2 losses, would be able to block the desperate offensive of France, which is in 3rd place in the group with 2 draws.

In the end, Korea had to win the last game against Switzerland.
However, Korea lost to Switzerland in the last game and failed to advance to the round of 16 by finishing third in the group.

Despite the decent record of 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, they lost second place in the group to France, who won the last game after two draws.

If it was simply this, it would have been regrettable, but the title of ‘revenge match’ would not have been right, but there was a big controversy in the match against Switzerland, and the ‘offside controversy’ was that.

It was a controversial incident in Korea to the extent that all the people who were frustrated with the failure of the round of 16 even filed a petition for a rematch after claims were raised that Switzerland’s Alexander Frei’s goal was offside.

Of course there was no replay, not even offside.
Even the Korea Football Association refereeing committee said, “At first, it was judged as offside, but as a result of the investigation, it was concluded that it was not offside.”

However, many Koreans still had the perception that the match against Switzerland at the time was an unfair defeat, and the media instigated this and promoted it extensively with the stimulating title of ‘revenge match at the time of unfairness’.

And the result.
The Korea vs. Switzerland match held at the Stadio Friuli – Dacia Arena in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, received tremendous attention and reached a situation where far more away fans than the previous Argentina match filled the stadium.

“… If we lose today, will we become traitors?”

Even the players are amazing.