soccer

Australia downs South Korea 2-1 in extra time to win Asian Cup final

18 Comments
By KEIRAN SMITH

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18 Comments
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Well done to the Aussies. There was a great atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium with lots of canary yellow shirts, and quite a few red shirts too. I just hope the locals were kind enough to buy a beer or two for the heartbroken Korean fans in the pubs after.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Come on Aussie! Gutsy effort from a young team after losing three key players to injury and having to pick themselves up after a late equaliser. This will sting for Korea but they can hold their heads up. Australia deserve to champs though. Woohoo!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

banz10, Korea was playing without two of their best mid fielders in Lee ChungYong and Koo Jacheol, when they got injured early in the competition. That really sapped their attacking strength all throughout the tournament. Korea also had to leave home without two key experienced big forwards who were also injured. It showed why they couldn't score as often as they should have.

-14 ( +0 / -14 )

@hotmail same could have been said for most teams, what if, but its, etc your only as good as your last game or the team you front with, injured or not. on paper Korea has much more talent but it was the Aussie determination that won it for them.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

That battler spirit! Happy for my country :) Poor Kruse left the field with what looked to be an achilles injury which has to be tough after recently coming back from a serious knee injury. The yellow card he received while injured was a bit rich. Very proud of the Socceroos effort - especially our ability to come back after conceding the equaliser. Credit to Korea they never gave up.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Hotmail

I was referring specifically to this game. Losing three key players to injury within a few minutes of each other in a major final would have been very off-putting. Credit must go to the young Socceroos for how they handled that. Sainsbury in particular was outstanding.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

One of the most tense and nerve wracking nights of sport I can remember attending. May well be second only to November 16, 2005, in regard to pure joy at the end.

I still would have rather left happy after a 1-0 win at the end of 90 minutes! But all's well, ends well. Feel privileged to have attended group stage, quarter final, semi final, and final matches of an international tournament.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Well South Korea had better chances, but they just didn't have that extra attacking striker to create goals. It's always the old bugaboo for Korea - the mental lapses at key moments that always hurts them. It's now getting to be a traditional habit - dominate possession but lose the game because of one crucial mistake. That second winning goal should not have happened. It was the boneheaded move of that young Korean left back, who plays in German Bundas League. It's too bad, really since he was outstanding in the game, and also throughout the tournament, going up and down the fields and creating attacking dangerous chances. He had three assists, all of them led to winning goals in the tournament. Unfortunately for him, he's going to remember that mistake for a long time.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

@hotmail - Australia had the majority of possession and were the better team.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Here in Brisbane I woke up at the early time of 3pm to watch the match, all excited only to find my kid sister in the kitchen wearing a green and gold shirt, she explained that she was supporting Australia due to being born here, I screamed at her that we are the minjok but she just laughed and said she was going to watch at a party, she invited me but I had already made plans to watch it in moms basement.

I draped myself in a xxl size taeguki and watched in anguish as the weeabo, racist referee undoubtably paid off by the jealous, spiteful Japanese allowed the Aussie team to push us off the ball and gift them two outrageously offside goals.

Outraged by the injustice I spent 8 hours on Saturday night putting 2-chan and yahoo netizen messages through translation programs to see what they were saying because they are so obsessed with us....I found they are so full of hatred most of the messages didn't even mention the game! Can you believe that?

While I was crying and screaming at the computer my racist Aussie neighbors banged at the wall and yelled at me to shut up, so all in all it was a dismal day.

-12 ( +1 / -13 )

Hotmail, you are being far too harsh on South Korea. They don't need anyone to make excuses for them. They made the final without losing a game. They played hard last night and, with only minutes to go, the 2 teams were only separated by 1 individual goal against the run of play. They then dug deep and took a goal back in injury time right at the end. That takes guts. They never gave up, they played well. Unfortunately, their opposition were also determined to play well. In games like this, they'll end up turning on just 1 or 2 key moments that could fall to either side. I thought both teams played very well. I don't think anyone needs to make excuses for South Korea. They played very well indeed.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I was hoping Korea would win, but it sounds like it was a fantastic game and there's no shame in coming in second in the finals, really. And besides, Australia did a fantastic job through the tournament, and it was after all hosted in their nation, so they had a lot to prove and the heart to do it. I really wish I could have watched this game. Congrats to both teams! To the Aussies, very well done and this is further proof that those nimrods talking about ousting you from the Asian group, especially given it was the best game to date of the best Asian Cup, are just that -- nimrods. You made your nation and the game proud. To the Koreans, must have been heartbreaking but hold your heads high. Would have been nice to see you guys take the first place home, but you've got further than you have in a long, long time, and already beat the team that bested you this game once, so don't hang your heads. Besides, some of your best players are still quite young and can only get better.

-11 ( +0 / -11 )

Congratulations to Team Australia.

koreasentry.com: "watched in anguish as the weeabo, racist referee undoubtably (sic) paid off by the jealous, spiteful Japanese allowed the Aussie team to..." "Outraged by the injustice....I found they are so full of hatred...my racist Aussie neighbors banged at the wall and yelled at me to..."

I was waiting for some South Korean supporters to come here and bemoan how they were "cheated" out of "their" rightful victory, and guess what? I didn't have to wait long! It's sad that Koreans are such poor sports, and it certainly blemishes their athletes as well as their country, doesn't it?

Come on, Korean supporters. Why can't you accept a loss as a loss, like every other country/team has the sportsmanship to do? EVERY time your side fails, you blame someone else with allegations of cheating or racism. It happened with the last Winter Olympics (Kim Yu-na was "cheated" out of gold...), it happened at the last Summer Olympics (Shin Lam's fencing breakdown), and many, many other times. Crying wolf like this...have you no shame? And if this match was fixed, I'd like to hear why your team failed to win the previous final, and the one before that, and the one BEFORE THAT, too??

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@koreasentry.com

I'm from Brisbane and know people from the Korean community there. If your post is genuine (seems a bit too weird), your childish bad sportsmanship shames them.

Neither goal was remotely offside and the referee gave Australia 5 yellow cards to Korea 0, hardly favouring the home team. In the end, Korea played well but the best team won. You clearly have no clue about the game.

I'll bet your Aussie neighbour isn't racist at all. You just can't handle a loss. Making false accusations like that is a disgrace.

I take it by your sister's choice to support the country of her birth (good for her) that you also hold an Australian passport, perhaps as a dual-national. If you feel such a discord with your country, Australia, the country which generously gave you citizenship, feel free to give it back and return to Korea.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Someone.please.let.Honda know, wasn't he whining about.how unfair it was.for.Japan.to.have one.less.day to prepare for a.match than their opponents a few days ago?

Yep, shame it wasn't Japan that Australia beat, but we can't have everything. The Koreans fought ferociously, and their compatriots should be proud.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

As a result of Australia success in hosting and winning the Asian Cup, Blatter all of a sudden is saying that Australia should host a World Cup in the near future. Hate the man, why wasn't Australia awarded it for 2022? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-31/australia-deserves-to-host-soccer-world-cup-sepp-blatter-says/6059222

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yep, I totally hear you. We've heard nothing but stories of exploitation and slave labour since Qatar won the 2022 bid.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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