The South Korean men’s national soccer team, led by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, won 3-1 against Bahrain in the first Group E match of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup held at Jasim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 8:30 p.m. on the 15th (Korea time).

Then, as Jordan of the same group defeated Malaysia 4-0, Korea ranked second in the group. Hwang In-beom scored in the 39th minute of the first half to take the lead in this match. However, the team lost a point to Al-Hashashi in the 6th minute of the second half, making it 1-1 in the balance. Lee Kang-in emerged as a hero as the game was going through a rough patch.

In the 11th minute of the second half, Kim Min-jae handed over a fast pass from the left side, and Lee Kang-in, who caught the ball, fired a powerful left-footed shot at a point far from the box. The ball rolled perfectly and shook the net. In the 23rd minute of the second half, Hwang In-beom then caught the ball that Son Heung-min gave and passed it to Lee Kang-in who was rushing from the right side. Lee calmly fired a left-footed shot to score multiple goals. The game ended with Korea’s 3-1 victory.

Despite the victory, there were concerns over the referee’s assignment ahead of the first match against Bahrain. The referee and the first and second assistant referees were all Chinese. In fact, the referee in the match was Chinese referee Marning, while the assistant referees were also Zhou Fei and Zhang Cheng, both of them from China. Only the VAR referee was Yusuke Araki from Japan.
Unstable predictions soon became reality. The referee’s ruling, especially regarding fouls and yellow cards, was hardly consistent. 토토사이트 순위

Korea was given the first warning when Park Yong-woo made a foul on the opponent team in the 10th minute of the first half. Kim Min-jae was also given a yellow card in the 13th minute of the first half when he blocked the opponent team’s midfielder Mohammed Maroon from breaking through. It was too much decision by referee Maroon. It is a yellow card that is hard to understand. The scene where Kim blocked the opponent team’s defense has no problem considering it as a normal defense and physical fight. Kim Min-jae, the “pillar” of Korean defense, has a batting average of one point or more. Two defensive midfielders and center backs received yellow cards in the very early stages of the game, putting more pressure on Korea.

Bahrain penetrated this point and attacked the Korean defense with sharper counterattacks. Kim Min-jae and Park Yong-woo had to play more carefully than before to avoid accumulation of warnings. In other words, two cards changed the course of the game. The Korean defense was put on alert when Lee Ki-je was given a warning in the 29th minute of the first half. While the Korean players were given strict decisions, referee Marning gave generous decisions to Bahrain players. Even when Korean strikers Lee Kang-in and Son Heung-min were pushed over or bumped into each other, no cards were issued. The only thing they had to do was to pause the game for a while.

In particular, Lee Kang-in was pushed down in the 27th minute of the first half, but no foul, let alone a warning, was given to the Bahrain player, and there was no warning even though Hwang In-beom fell down in the 31st minute of the first half after being tackled by Ali Madan. There was also no warning to Sayed Madi Bakker, who hit Son Heung-min in the first minute of the second half when it was not related to the ball.

When the cards did not come out, Bahraini players became more active and harsh. In the process, Son Heung-min, the captain of the national team, was kicked by the opponent and hit in the face with his shoulder, causing him to collapse. It was a foul that had nothing to do with the ball, but no card was given. It was a 180-degree different decision from the one given to Korean players who received cards despite a legitimate physical fight.

Korea received three yellow cards in the first half alone and two in the second half. Bahrain, which had been tougher, has only two cards. While the number of cards cannot be used to criticize the referee’s decision, referee Marning’s decision in the match against Bahrain was disadvantageous to Korea. Consequently, Clinton had no choice but to proceed with an unplanned replacement of the player due to the yellow card.

Klinsmann replaced Lee early in the second half. After Lee Kang-in scored another goal, he replaced Kim Min-jae and Cho Kyu-sung with Kim Young-kwon and Hong Hyun-suk. Park Yong-woo was also replaced by Park Jin-seop at the end of the game. “Chinese referees paid too many cards in an early period of time. This made it difficult to run the game,” Klinsmann complained after the game.

“I had no choice but to replace Lee Ki-je or Kim Min-jae, who had a warning against yellow cards in the second half as well. I gave them cards too recklessly,” he said, pointing to the Chinese referee’s inexperienced performance in the game. Yellow cards will be automatically removed from the quarterfinal tournament. In Korea, five key players have received cards from the first round. Due to the poor performance of the Chinese referee, the referee is taking the time bomb.