Considering the fact that South Korea had been considered one of the worst teams to enter the 2014 World Cup, I’ll take a draw against the much more favored Russian squad. One point is better than zero points, although I really had my hopes soaring for three points, when the Koreans drew first blood and scored on Russia first. Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t solder on for the remaining 15 minutes, and they allowed the equalizer just minutes later.
Regardless, a tie is not a loss, and the last thing I want to see is South Korea get bounced unceremoniously out of the group stage. In spite of monumental bias and criticism from global media outside of South Korea about how weak of a squad they should be, how they didn’t score so much as it was Russia’s goalkeeper fucking up, and how they probably won’t make it out of the group stage; Korea’s already put their stamp on the World Cup that they’ve come to play, and if at least anything at all, had at least one moment of glory to bask in.
Seriously though, are there many better feelings in the world, than what it looks like to score a goal in the World Cup? Goals in general are excruciatingly rare as it is in the game of soccer to begin with, but to score one for your home country, against the best squads in the world, on the grandest stage of them all, while somewhere around a billion people are watching in the stands and on television sets all across the entire planet?
I’m pretty sure the reaction of falling to the ground and smiling/laughing your face off is the most common after a goal scored, because for at least twenty seconds they have to know that the weight of quite literally, a massive chunk of the world’s population is on top of them in some emotional fashion.
It has to be seriously one of the greatest feelings in the world. They’re incredible for me, and I’m just some guy, watching or listening to the matches.
I’m happy for Lee Keun Ho. This is the kind of moment he’ll remember and cherish for the rest of his life. Although it’s not expected from the pundits, hopefully there will be more of these kinds of moments to come, in the remaining games South Korea has to play.
