Despite the dramatic victory, Cho Kyu-sung could not smile.
The Korean national soccer team, led by coach Jürgen Klinsmann, defeated Australia 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation Qatar Asian Cup at Al-Zanub Stadium in Al-Wakra, Qatar, at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday (Korea time). After successfully advancing to the semifinals, Korea will have a showdown with Jordan.
The starting lineup announced ahead of the match. The most eye-catching thing was Cho Kyu-sung’s return to the starting lineup. With rival Hwang Ui-jo unable to make the roster for the upcoming Asian Cup due to issues other than soccer, Cho was naturally the right person to take charge of Korea’s front line at this year’s Asian Cup. Expectations for Cho were even higher because of his good performance in his team recently. 라바카지노도메인
He was on the starting lineup from the first game against Bahrain. He formed a two-top with Son in the 4-4-2 formation. However, he wasted several critical chances against Bahrain, which is considered weak, and eventually had to leave the field in the 27th minute of the second half forlornly.
He continued his slump in the second and third matches as well. He started as a two-top player with Son in two consecutive matches, but failed to exert significant influence and displayed near zero presence. Consequently, Cho was substituted in the 21st minute in the second half against Jordan and 17th minute in the second half against Malaysia, continuing his disappointment.
“Silent for three consecutive games.” Eventually, public sentiment toward Cho exploded. Taking advantage of his appearance on a terrestrial entertainment show recently, soccer fans began bombarding Cho with carpet on his SNS, and continued to criticize him even with his long hair.
Consequently, Coach Klinsmann had a “super strong” strategy to bring Cho Kyu-sung down to the bench ahead of the round of 16 match against Saudi Arabia. In place of Cho, Son Heung-min played the role of front-line striker, and Cho took the ground as he was replaced by Lee Jae-sung in the 19th minute of the second half. He reversed the public criticism of Cho by scoring a dramatic equalizer in extra time in the second half when his team was trailing 0-1. Thanks to Cho’s equalizer, Korea made it to the quarterfinals by defeating Saudi Arabia after a penalty shootout.
Coach Klinsmann once again gave Cho, who gained confidence by scoring a goal. Unlike the match against Saudi Arabia, which used three hundred, Cho launched a 4-4-2 formation again. As the opponent team had a “huge” Harry Su-hitter approaching 2 meters, Cho’s right to provide was inevitably important.
However, Cho never met Clinton`s expectations. He failed to make a single shot while playing for 69 minutes, and eventually left the field as Lee Jae-sung was replaced.
Cho’s poor performance was also revealed by his records and ratings. According to soccer statistics media “Sopa Score,” Cho, who played 69 minutes, recorded 0 shooting, 17 cheek touches, one successful ground contest (out of five), and one successful aerial contest (out of three), while media gave Cho 6.4 points, the lowest score in his team. In addition, “Footmob” also scored 6.3 points, the lowest in his team.