World Cup 2018: Three reasons why South Korea beat Germany 2-0

#2 Thriving on the little opportunities

A clear poacher!

Unlike their counterparts, the Asians capitalized on their little moments – both at the back and while going forward.

While defending, they poured their hearts and souls into this game. Playing a deep line invites long rangers and extra bit of space to the opposition, but almost every time a German forward or midfielder tried to line one up, a Taegeuk Warrior would charge front and put his body on the line fearlessly.

They won headers, blocked shots, tackled sharply, won the ball in higher parts of the pitch and read passes quickly. With that, they also grew in confidence.

Now, if their forward play is taken into account, the Asian outfit had their task cut out. Going by a well-crafted counter-attacking plan, Heung-Min Son and Seon-Min Moon played one-twos, bought time for midfielders and went forward with conviction.

They could have scored in the first-half itself, owing to the better opportunities that fell in their favor. Nonetheless, a couple of attacking shifts looked promising as far as their forward play was considered.

Kim’s well-taken goal - which was declared by VAR and Son’s late flourish put the icing on top.