DOHA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) — South Korea managed to tug off a goalless draw in opposition to South American powerhouses Uruguay as the 2 groups kicked off their World Cup Group H fixture right here on Thursday.
Both sides constructed up stringent protection backlines and all makes an attempt by either side missed the goal within the lackluster and in some way pleasant recreation. The solely yellow card for gamers went to South Korea’s midfielder Cho Gue-sung within the late 89th minute.
Uruguay hit the submit twice by way of captain Diego Godin’s header from an out-swinging nook and Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde’s energy shot in every half, which got here closest to breaking the impasse. Hwang Ui-jo wasted South Korea’s finest probability, skying a shot from 10 yards out with solely the goalkeeper to beat after connecting Na Sang-ho’s cross contained in the field.
South Korean ahead Son Heung-min, who began the sport carrying a masks to guard a damaged left eye socket, had only one scoring effort within the closing minutes, which went extensive.
Veteran striker Edinson Cavani changed Uruguay’s all-time main scorer Luis Suarez within the second half.
“This is a competitive match with a very level of play,” Paulo Bento, the pinnacle coach of South Korea, advised the post-match convention.
“I believe we were better in the first half with many moments which we have the capability to do what we want to do,” he mentioned, including that the aggressive technique of South Korea made the crew dominate the primary half.
Uruguay supervisor Diego Alonso agreed with what his Portuguese peer mentioned however insisted that it was his crew that lack of the identical luck to win the sport.
“In the first we couldn’t take the ball from them. We did some adjustments in the second half and obviously we dominated much more in the rest of the match,” mentioned Alonso.
The two groups had crossed twice at earlier tournaments with Uruguay profitable each video games by 1-0 in 1990 and 2-1 within the spherical of 16 in 2010.
The draw at Education City Stadium was yet one more early World Cup match with the favored crew stumbling, largely with the Asian groups getting concerned. Argentina and Germany each misplaced their opening matches in opposition to Saudi Arabia and Japan respectively.
South Korea will subsequent play Ghana on Monday and Uruguay are to fulfill Portugal in the identical day’s later fixture.