KWANGJU, 23 June — Those who live by the penalty shootout, risk dying by it. So it was yesterday with Spain, who had eliminated the Republic of Ireland in the cruelest fashion last Sunday but found a second shootout in a week beyond them.
The astonishing South Koreans, outplayed for all of the first half and much of the second, forcing Iker Casillas into just one save in two hours of football, refused to lose hold of their dream, and ensured that it will continue at least as long as next Tuesday, when Germany will travel to Seoul hoping not to go the way of Poland, Portugal, Italy and now the Spanish.
The co-hosts had already proved their fitness, pace, athletic ability and spirit. Here they added nerve to that list in converting five successive penalties without a hitch. Poor Joaquin of Real Betis, probably Spain’s best performer, had his kick saved, so Hong Myung-bo emerged as a hero among heroes by scoring.
Without Raul in attack, Spain were still much the more threatening side, Fernando Morientes missing what would have been a winning golden goal for them in extra time by hitting a post. Like Italy before them they also suffered from several marginal decisions, and finished the day in bitter and almost physical protest, a furious Ivan Helguera having to be dragged away from the officials by his coach, Jose Antonio Camacho.
Spain had two goals disallowed, provoking another outcry about the quality of match officials. Helguera headed in the first, which was chalked off for pushing; the second, a header by Morientes, was ruled out because the ball was judged to have gone over the byline before being crossed to him by Joaquin, who was dumbfounded by the decision. “The ball didn’t even touch the line, let alone go over it,” he said. “It was a big surprise when the flag went up. That’s football. If that goal had been given we’d be looking at the semifinal now.” Then again, without the flag the Koreans might not have allowed Morientes such a clean header.
Camacho was equally upset and said complaints were not sour grapes. “We expected the officiating to be better. This was a quarterfinal match, after all,” the former international defender said. “I’m sad because we lost unfairly. We thought there was going to be more of a precaution to avoid this from happening. There are too many games ending this way... it isn’t good for football.” The Koreans, meanwhile, were going through what has now become a regular celebration routine in front of a crowd that seemed not to contain a single Spanish follower. Kwangju, 300 miles south of Seoul, proved to be a less intimidating venue, with its open spaces and two uncovered ends, but the noise of the home supporters was still relentless, a testament to faith. They refused to let the dream die.
Guus Hiddink, the coach, is reported to be heading home to Holland for a second spell with PSV Eindhoven, where Bobby Robson originally succeeded him in 1990, but he will not be going anywhere just yet.
“Thank you the Kingdom of the Netherlands” said one of the banners behind the goal. The Dutchman, modest and dignified, handed the thanks on to his team and his adopted nation: “I cannot describe how I am feeling. I am so happy for the boys, who fought until the end. It’s a tremendous achievement by the boys. This is a complete dream, even more dreams have come true now.
“The mentality of this team to recover, even when it is getting tougher and tougher is so outrageous and almost without limits. I am so proud of these guys. I’m happy for them and for the people. It was a 50-50 game, the Spanish caused us some problems, but we took the penalties well. We had less rest than Spain and now we have one day’s less rest than Germany, so the schedule is not favoring us.” Back in Ireland, millions must have watched in frustration, knowing that it could — should — have been the boys in green. Spanish tactics had played into their hands in sitting back on a one-goal lead, withdrawing attackers, using all available substitutes and then having to play the whole of extra time with 10 men.
Like England against Brazil, Ireland could not take advantage of the opposition being a man short, though they made a better fist of it. Some critics felt that Italy fell into the same trap — or Trap, if their coach was to blame — but that was a difficult argument to sustain. Unlike Spain, the Italians had counterattacked smartly, keeping two men up and making all the best chances, which resulted in two bad misses by Christian Vieri and the legitimate goal by Damiano Tomassi that was disallowed.
By yesterday Spain had learned the lesson. Recalling the veteran Nadal alongside Fernando Hierro, with Helguera in front as a defensive screen, worked well in subduing Ahn Jung-hwan and Seol Ki-hyeon, the scorers in Tuesday’s heart-stopping victory over the Italians.
As a result, the crowd, despite shrieking at every threatened approach to the Spanish goal had only one moment of genuine excitement to enjoy.
In the 66th minute, Carles Puyol blocked a fierce shot by the substitute Lee Chun-soo and Park Ji-sung neatly controlled the rebound before forcing Casillas to save one-handed at his near post.
His opposite number, Lee Woon-jae, was much the busier of the two. In the first half he injured a wrist holding a strong header by Morientes, then pushed away a cross shot from Javi de Pedro. Just after the interval Helguera’s header beat him following a free-kick but was disallowed for pushing and almost immediately Morientes jabbed wide from a promising position.
If the second half was more even, it was still difficult to agree with Hiddink’s view of the proceedings as “50-50”. Even in extra time, when the fitness he has instilled into his charges shone through, Morientes had his header chalked off and then hit the post from a quick throw by Joaquin.
So to penalties; and then, for a team who were outsiders even to win their group, the semifinal of the World Cup. (The Independent)
