After scoring an injury-time equaliser before triumphing in extra time of their Asian Cup quarterfinal against Australia, South Korea’s play has been dubbed “zombie football” by their fans, a team that refuses to die.
It’s a moniker coach Jurgen Klinsmann is happy with, even if he’d much rather his side win their next game inside 90 minutes.
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“Any nickname is fine with me!” Klinsmann laughed post-game.
Down 1-0 thanks to Craig Goodwin‘s first-half volley on Friday evening, the Taegeuk Warriors’ furious attempts to engineer a comeback eventually saw Son Heung-Min brought down by Lewis Miller with just seconds remaining at the Al Janoub stadium, opening the door for Hwang Hee-Chan to equalise from the spot in the 96th minute.
Miller then levelled Hwang on the edge of the area in extra time and Son curled a free kick beyond Maty Ryan in the Socceroos’ net in the 104th minute to seal a comeback win and a semifinal showdown with Jordan next Tuesday.
It marked the fourth straight game in Doha that Korea had found the net after the expiration of the 90 minutes, hence their now, zombie-fied nickname as they seek to end a 64-year Asian Cup drought.
As for how his side can find it in themselves to continue to pull themselves back from the brink, as well as why they keep finding themselves in a position where they need to?
“This is a wonderful group of players. This is a very good team,” said Klinsmann. “Maybe because the expectations in Korea, at home, are to bring this title home after more than 60 years, maybe this is a little bit in the back of our minds that ‘Oh, what if not’?
“So maybe that blocks them in the first half a little bit. Then we go down and then we all know now [we need to] go forward. And then start to speed things up. They start to create chances. They start to have movement of the ball that we always want to see from the beginning.
“When it’s still nil-nil maybe we worry too much. I always tell them don’t be worried. It’s all psychological. It’s a fantastic experience. And now we are in the semifinal. We know we have two more games to go to make this country, hopefully, proud.
“But you can see it in the eyes of the players how badly they want to make their country and their families and their friends [proud].”
After also putting in a full shift in Korea’s penalty shootout win over Saudi Arabia, Son has now logged 510 minutes — not including stoppage time — across Korea’s five games, scoring three goals and winning a match-saving penalty.
The Tottenham Hotspur superstar, though, has little concerns for matters of fatigue or zombies, not when there’s the chance to bring an Asian crown back home.
“What I think is important is that we get the win,” he said. “One thing which I can say with assurance is that this is just helping us stick together even stronger. Playing 120 minutes. It’s painful. It’s difficult. It’s not easy. But the spirit the boys are showing, it’s just making us think together.
“And I think I can say with confidence that our strength is that we’re wanting. We’re all together in this. So I think that’s what’s really important, the spirit that we’re showing. I think that’s what people really need to focus on.
“I think it’s more about the mentality. It’s more about mentality and what you think in your head. Your playing for your country and there shouldn’t be an excuse. There should be no excuse.
“After tomorrow there’s only going to be four left in Doha. Four teams left in Doha and of the four teams, only one team is going to get a trophy. Our team will fight for the trophy and now there should be no excuse fatigue, tiredness, whatever it is, there should be no excuse. I’m just going to go for the trophy to bring it back home.”