WORLD CUP 2022 NATION PRESENTATION: SOUTH KOREA

NICKNAME: Taegeuk Warriors

MANAGER: Paulo Bento

MOST CAPPED PLAYER: Cha Bum-kun- 136 caps from 1972 to 1986

Hong Myung-bo- 136 caps from 1990 to 2002

TOP SCORER: Cha Bum-kun- 58 goals from 1972 to 1986

HOST NATION: With Japan in 2002.

WORLD CUP RECORD: 14th, first one in 1954. They played on every since 1986.

BEST RESULT: Best result for South Korea is 4th place on the home soil. But we have to say that Korea had a lot of help from the referees. In the group stage with Poland, Portugal and the United States, Korea took first place with 7 points. In the first match they won against Poland. This was the first ever win for S. Korea at the World Cup. In the second match they faced USA and played 1-1. They were losing till 78' min when Ahn Jung-hwan scored an equalizer. In the last match vs Portugal Park Ji-sung was the Korean hero who scored the only goal of the match. But Portugal received two red cards. In round of 16 they were drawn with former champion Italy. Seol Ki-hyeon scored a late goal for extra time (1-1). In 117 min of extra time Ahn Jung-hwan scored a golden goal. In the next round Korea faced Spain. Spain managed to score twice but both goals were cancelled. Match finished 0-0. Korea was better after PKs. In the semi-final Ballack scored the only goal in a match against Korea. It meant that Korea had to play a match for 3rd place. Turkey was the loser of the second semi-final match. In that match we saw the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup. Hakan Sukur scored after only 10.8 sec. Korea came back very soon as they scored an equalizer in 9 min. But it didn't last long as Turkey took the lead again in the 13th min. Ilhan Mansiz scored that goal and he added another one in the 32th min. At the end of the match Korea scored a second goal but it wasn't enough.