Russia faced South
Korea in what many expect to be the battle for second in Group H. Although the Russians
are probably favourites, no one would rule out the plucky Koreans from sneaking
into the last 16 with memories of their 2002 World Cup performances in mind.
Korea looked the
more promising in the early stages but were unable to find a break through. The
match turned into one could easily be compared to that of two boxers trading
blows.
This match had 26
shots altogether which suggests that both teams had enough chances to win the
game but that wasn’t the case. The majority of these shots came from 30, 40
yards out although both keepers seemed to have trouble dealing with these
efforts. Russia’s Akinfeev dropped them on a few occasions but none to Korea’s
advantage.
Not until the 68th
minute at least. A speculative 25 yard effort by Korean substitute Lee (one of
three Lee’s in the squad) slipped through Akinfeev’s hands over his head and
into the net. Fabio Capello cursed the Goalkeeper God’s again for the second
tournament following Rob Green’s error against America during his time in
charge of England.
 |
| Igor Akinfeev desperately tries to recover from his error |
Going behind seemed
to give Russia the shake-up they needed. The introduction of Alan Dzagoev and
Russian domestic football record goal scorer, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, increased
the urgency of the Russians play. Capello’s substitutes had the desired effect.
Dzagoevs low shot
was parried by the South Korean keeper. The ball cannoned around the six yard
box in a goal mouth scramble before being bundled over the line by Kerzhakov.
He could have arguably been ruled offside, but the assistant kept his flag
down.
Russia continued to
press for a winner, and missed two close headers, but the game fizzled out, and
finished as a 1 – 1 draw, which was a fair result based on the performances of
the sides. Anything other than a draw would have been a harsh injustice for the
losing team.
Russia 1 – 1 South
Korea 
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