Saturday 26 June 2010

SuperSuar: Uruguay 2-1 South Korea 26/6/10


Uruguay line-up: Muslera, Lugano (c), Godin (Victorino, HT), Fucile, Cavani, Suarez (Fernandez, 84'), Forlan, A.Pereira (Lodeiro, 74'), Perez, M.Pereira, Arevalo
South Korea line-up: S.R.Jung, Y.H.Cho, J.S.Park (c), J.W.Kim, C.Y.Park, Y.P.Lee, J.S.Kim (D.G.Lee, 61'), J.S.Lee, S.Y.Ki (K.H.Yeom, 85'), D.R.Cha

Uruguay progress to the quarter finals with a great chance of a final four finish thanks to a mixture of poor defending and Luis Suarez brilliance. South Korea started brightly with Park Ji Sung making a typical nuisance of himself, just minutes into the game the Koreans could have been 1-0 ahead after Park Chu-Young fired a curling free-kick against the post. But football is a cruel game and they found themselves 1-0 down just seconds later; Diego Forlan creating room down the wing to fire a low cross around the six yard box, no defenders nor the keeper got to it and an unmarked Luis Suarez came in from the other side and tucked the ball away. Again South Korea's defence failing to answer their critics and they now needed to dig deep to find a way back. The goal however seemed all Uruguay wanted from the match and looked intent on defending for the remainder as they allowed South Korea to attack but they couldn't find a way through the stubborn defence. Both Parks were looking equally dangerous and Cha Du-Ri fired a couple of long range efforts over the bar.

The heavens opened in the second half as the pitched looked to quicken which in theory would suit the Uruguayans more. Suarez nearly made South Korea pay the price for yet more slack defending by intercepting a poor pass, but Suarez could fire a tame shot at Jung. Again both Parks were looking dangerous and forced the Uruguay defence to be anxious with Muslera forced into action on numerous occasions. Their persistence paid off as South Korea found their equaliser just under twenty minutes from time; Ki fired a free-kick into the box and Lugano's attempted clearing header fell to Bolton's Lee Chung-Yong who made no mistake from close range. This fired the Uruguayans back into attacking mode and they looked the most likely to find a second, Suarez had a couple of great chances but failed to grab his and Uruguay's second. Ten minutes from time and it was Suarez to put Uruguay back into the lead as Forlan's corner fell to him on the edge of the box, he turned a defender before curling a beautiful shot onto the inside of the post and into the side of the net for his second goal, one of the best goals of the tournament. Former Middlesbrough striker, substitute Lee Dong-Gook had a glorious opportunity to level the scores once more in the final minutes as he went one-on-one with Muslera, but he scuffed his shot and it hit the inside of Muslera's legs which killed the speed of the ball and allowed Lugano to clear his lines and make sure Uruguay progress to the Quarter Finals.


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