South Korea’s World Cup hopes are all but over after losing to Mexico.
South Korea need a miracle to advance from the group stage of the World Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Mexico in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday afternoon.
After a 1-0 defeat to Sweden earlier this week, South Korea needed a win to really kickstart their World Cup campaign, but they struggled again in their latest defeat.
Jang Hyun-soo was penalised for handballing Andres Guardado’s first half cross, and former Arsenal striker Carlos Vela stepped up to score, putting Mexico 1-0 up.
Mexico made it 2-0 in the second half as star winger Hirving Lozano broke forward at pace before finding Javier Hernandez, who slipped the ball beyond Cho Hyun-woo with a calm finish.
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Son Heung-min did score a superb long-range strike late on, but that was as good as it got for South Korea, who will be out of the competition if Sweden secure a point against Mexico in their final group game.
There wasn’t much to shout about for South Korea, though the tournament will be great experience for young forward Hwang Hee-chan, who has been touted as one of the next stars of South Korean football.
The Red Bull Salzburg forward, 22, has hit 29 goals domestically in the last two seasons, and the London Evening Standard recently reported that he is a target for Tottenham having struck up a strong friendship with Spurs star Son.
Fans on Twitter were a little torn by the youngster’s display, with some feeling that he was overdoing things and had the end product of Middlesbrough’s erratic winger Adama Traore, though others were impressed with his pace and skill, even talking up the partnership between him and Son – something which could be on show in the Premier League soon.
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