World Cup Match Review - Sweden v South Korea: Taeguk Warriors, Blunt Blades

Korea got their campaign off to a losing start against Sweden, in a game where there were more whistle blowing on the pitch than you can ask for. The stars on the pitch, however, were the Video Assitant Referees, and no one else.

Coming into the match, Sweden came in with the “We don’t need Zlatan to be successful” mentality, whilst Korea came in, baring fangs, only to find out that their pretty much toothless, despite having the attacking firepower of Son Heung-Min, Koo Ja-Cheol and the defensive stature in midfield of Ki Seung-Yong.

The match in general was mired by stoppages, courtesy of the number of fouls committed by both sides. That, honestly, really killed the game for me, as it started to become unbearable to watch, particularly in the first half.

Credit to Sweden, who gave South Korea a run for their money, as they kept piling the pressure on to their Asian opponents. The best players in the first half were Jo Hyeon-Woo, who replaced World Cup regular Kim Seung-Gyu between the sticks, and Kim Young-Gwon, who made key blocks to deny Sweden the lead before the first half.

The only goal came courtesy of a VAR call, after Kim Min-Woo dropped Viktor Claesson in the box. The referee did not award it at first go, but after consultation with the VAR Officials, he pointed to the spot, to which the Swedish Captain, Andreas Granqvist duly converted for the 3 points.

With this win, it may look likely that Sweden are better off without the legend himself, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. However, Sweden has also proven that despite being able to penetrate the Korean defense rather easily, they sorely miss an attacking edge, with the likes of Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen firing blanks in the box.

Korea, on the other hand, had to do what “underdogs” of the tournament do, which was sitting back in defense, absorbing pressure and then going for the counter. This proved to be ineffective, and their over-reliance on talisman Son Heung-Min made it even worse, as it just pointed out the lack of cutting edge South Korea used to boast back in the day. Sweden’s spy clearly got one thing right, despite the “shirt-swapping” incident that happened a month ago. Having someone constantly on Son’s heel was enough to snuff out whatever flames the Taeguk Warriors brought over to Russia. It didn’t help that Son didn’t have anyone to supply to, as Kim Shin-Wook was poor in the attacking third.

With this loss, Korea becomes the 3rd Asian team to go down in their first game, with Saudi Arabia and Australia both suffering losses. This spells a rather worrying sign over the quality of football that has been churning out in the Asian region, as they have simply not showed up in the tournament.

Any redemption is laid heavily down Japan’s shoulders now, as they square up against South American giants, Colombia in their campaign opener.