▲ South Korea assistant coach Sergio Costa (R) shakes hands with his captain Son Heung-min after South Korea's 3-2 loss to Ghana in the teams' Group H match at the FIFA World Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha, on Nov. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ Lee Kang-in of South Korea (R) takes a shot against Ghana during the teams' Group H match at the FIFA World Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha, on Nov. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ South Korea head coach Paulo Bento (C) has an argument with referee Anthony Taylor after the end of South Korea's Group H match against Ghana at the FIFA World Cup at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha, on Nov. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

(World Cup) S Korea-coach

(World Cup) S. Korea assistant coach cries 'lack of fairness'

By Yoo Jee-ho

AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea deserved a much better fate against Ghana than their 3-2 loss at the FIFA World Cup on Monday given the number of opportunities they created, the team's top assistant coach said.

Sergio Costa attended the postmatch press conference instead of head coach Paulo Bento, who was shown a red card by referee Anthony Taylor after the match at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha. Bento disputed Taylor's decision to blow the whistle after South Korea had won a corner, thereby stripping the Taegeuk Warriors of one final chance to draw level.

South Korea also had several other opportunities in the second half to pull even after Mohammed Kudus gave Ghana the one-goal lead in the 68th minute.

Costa noted that South Korea lost control of the match after conceding the first goal to Mohammed Salisu in the 24th minute. It was a much different story for South Korea in the second half, though they could only manage two goals, both by forward Cho Gue-sung.

Costa said Bento and his players had heated reaction to Taylor's whistle because they felt "a lack of fairness at the end of the match."

"It's normal reaction for someone who did all they could to win but couldn't do so," Costa said. "We have to be proud of what we did. We gave our soul to the match."

There is little time for South Korea to wallow in self-pity. With one point after two matches -- they had a goalless draw with Uruguay last Thursday -- South Korea will face world No. 9 Portugal in a must-win match Friday.

"We'll try to be competitive in that match," Costa said. "We'll show our quality as a group and put our soul into the game."

From the crushing loss, the one positive takeaway for South Korea is the performance of Cho, who became the first South Korean with multiple goals in a World Cup match in his first World Cup start.

"Gue-sung played a great match, not just because he scored the goals but how he played on defense and how he helped offensively," Costa said. "He had a performance which contributed to what we want as a team."

Costa noted that bringing in midfielder Lee Kang-in off the bench, as opposed to starting him, was the right move. Lee came on in the 57th minute and assisted on Cho's first goal the very next minute that cut the Ghana lead in half.

"He came on at the exact moment when he had to add something to the game," the assistant coach said. "He has a high quality but we have more than individual skills of individual players. There are other factors involved (when making lineup decisions)."

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]