It was a match between two mid-level nations; the Korea Republic fielded a lot of inexperienced players on the international stage, and Russia was without their key players Andrey Arshavin (left out of squad) and captain Roman Shirokov (injury).
A hard fought battle, both teams displayed a desperation and willingness to come out with the 3 points, but the score was level 1-1 after 90 minutes.
It was the Reds who gained momentum first, with Lee Chong-Yong and Son Heung-Min finding room but shooting it wide and over. Viktor Fayzulin countered with a couple wide strikes of his own, and possession and momentum remained balance between the two sides until the half.
A key moment came when goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev couldn’t hold onto substitute Lee Keun-ho’s strike and the rare blunder allowed Korea to go up by one. No goal line technology was needed, as the ball was clearly over the line after Akinfeev couldn’t catch it. The Taeguk Warriors were celebrating as anything to put the score up after running up and down for 67 minutes would do.
However, after 6 minutes, Korea’s defense fell apart and couldn’t contain a couple of shots on target, one of which eventually went into the net by the foot of leading Russian scorer Alexander Kerzhakov.
Both sides had chances on both ends, but neither could penetrate within the box, and neither could keep consistent possession, constantly passing to the other side throughout.
Three yellow cards were given to Ki Sung-Yung, Son Heung-Min, and Oleg Shatov.
In the end, the 1-1 draw gave a point a piece to both countries, which places them in a tie for second in their group after first place Belgium, who beat Algeria 2-1, and both countries hope to come off their next matches more strongly.
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