06/10/2002
DAEGU, South Korea – The United States wasted a late lead, yet was
jubilant. South Korea got a big tying goal, and trudged off the field.
Goalkeeper Brad Friedel came up with half a dozen big saves, Clint
Mathis got an early goal and the Americans fought off a sea of red
during an emotionally charged afternoon. They tied co-host South Korea
1-1 and moved within a point of the second round of the World Cup.
"I'm going to take it and get out of town quick," U.S. coach Bruce Arena
said. "If you'd asked most people months ago if the U.S. would get four
points in first two matches, 100 percent of the people would have said
no. To be standing with four points after two matches is a good feeling."
Clint Mathis scored a 24th-minute goal in his return to the lineup, and
Friedel became the first goalkeeper in this tournament to stop a penalty
kick. But South Korea tied it in the 78th minute when second-half
substitute Ahn Jung-hwan outjumped defender Jeff Agoos to head in Lee
Eul-yong's free kick.
"We lost concentration for a split second and they put it away," Friedel
said. "That was a ball between Agoos and myself. You have to give them a
little bit of credit, too. They put us under a lot of pressure in the
second half and it's hard to withstand that pressure."
Ahn simulated a speedskater in his goal celebration, a reference to the
disqualification of Kim Dong-sung in the 1,500-meter short-track final
of February's Salt Lake City Olympics, which resulted in a gold medal
for American Apolo Anton Ohno.
"We knew that our people still have some grudge against the United
States for the skating incident, so we wanted to allay that with the
goal ceremony," Ahn said.
Agoos, who didn't see the dance, was told about it later and called it
"pretty funny."
"I guess it was on their minds. It wasn't on ours," U.S. captain Claudio
Reyna said. "I guess they dedicated it to him, so that's nice."
South Korea, sky high after its 2-0 opening upset of Poland, dominated
most of the game and had a chance to win it in the 89th. Choi Yong-soo,
with an open net, took a pass from Lee and chipped the ball over the
crossbar.
"We outplayed them for much of the second half," said South Korea's
Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink. He thought his team created "five, six, seven
chances."
"A draw is a little bit not enough," he added.
South Korea and the United States, which opened with a 3-2 win over
fifth-ranked Portugal, are both 1-0-1 with four points. Tthe hosts lead
Group D on goal difference, plus-2 to plus-1. Poland and Portugal met
later Monday night.
With a tie or a win against the Poles on Friday, the United States would
ensure its first trip to the second round since 1994, when the World Cup
was played in America. South Korea would advance with a tie against the
Portuguese.
"It was probably four more points than anyone thought we'd have at this
point," Mathis said.
Mathis, who didn't play in the opener, looked fierce in his new Mohawk
hairdo. He scored on one of his first touches.
John O'Brien ran the ball up from midfield and passed to Mathis, who
trapped it with his right foot, then kicked it with his left, slotting
the ball past goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae from about 12 yards.
Friedel, picked by Arena to start his second straight game because he
has superior footwork to Kasey Keller, made a super stop in the 40th
minute. Agoos was called for dumping Hwang Sun-hong in the penalty area
when U.S. defender Eddie Pope tumbled into the players.
Agoos said Hwang was the one doing the shirt-grabbing and that Swiss
referee Urs Meier blew the call.
"The penalty kick was ridiculous," Arena said.
Friedel, who had stopped Seol Ki-hyeon point blank just as the penalty
kick was whistled, dived to his right and parried away Lee's penalty
kick. The rebound went wide.
"They changed about three penalty shooters," Friedel said. "When a
left-footer takes a penalty and he's not very confident, he'll generally
push it to the easier side so he doesn't miss the net."
Friedel also parried Kim Nam-il's 30-yard chip with his fingertips in
the 10th minute and made an excellent save with his feet on Seol's ball
from the side in the 20th minute.
"Friedel was clearly the man of the match," Arena said.
Penalty kickers had been 10-for-10 in this World Cup and were 17 of 18
in 1998, with one missing the net entirely. After Friedel's save on Lee,
there was a moment of pushing between the teams, but the officials
quickly separated them.
Hwang stood out, wearing a bandage that looked almost like a turban. He
was bleeding above the left eye after a collision with Frankie Hejduk in
front of the U.S. goal in the 22nd minute.
Mathis and Reyna rejoined the lineup, while Pablo Mastroeni -- Reyna's
replacement -- and injured midfielder Earnie Stewart came out.
South Korea pressed at the start, and the United States didn't even take
a shot during the first 21 minutes, letting the Red Devils run almost at
will.
The stadium, nestled at the foot of a hill, has the highest capacity in
South Korea at 68,014. South Korea's supporters, overwhelmingly clad in
red, started chanting and banging drums more than 2 1/2 hours before the
start. Signs hanging from the upper deck included "Hiddink! Make our
dream come true!" "God Bless Corea" and "We have a dream."
Fans on one end of the lower bowl held up white cards that formed the
giant letters "GO KOR 16!" signifying South Korea's quest to be among
the 16 teams in the second round. Then they switched to raising white
South Korean flags.
Despite talk of anti-Americanism before the game, the crowd applauded
following "The Star-Spangled Banner," then during the South Korean
anthem raised a giant South Korean flag more than 125 feet long and 50
feet high.
There were four sections of American fans -- some in red, some in white
and some in the Stars and Stripes. Whenever they started chants of
"U-S-A!" they were drowned out by the home fans.
American players took comfort that the field is surrounded by a
400-meter track, meaning only those fans with strong arms could hope to
throw objects at them. That contrasted with Saprissa Stadium in San
Jose, Costa Rica, where fans are just feet from the field and pelted
U.S. players with coins, bottles and bags of urine during qualifiers in
the past two years.
Before the game, many of the American players relaxed at their hotel by
watching the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the New Jersey Nets in Game 3
of the NBA Finals, which ended a little more than three hours before the
start of the game (1:30 a.m. CDT).
When the Americans came out on the field before warmups, Stewart, Cobi
Jones and Josh Wolff were among those with video recorders to preserve
the scene, and Stewart danced a little to the drumming.
Fans of the Red Devils flocked south from Seoul all morning on planes,
trains, buses and cars, chanting "Go Korea!" and "Dae-han-min-guk"
(Republic of Korea).
Because of the tension surrounding the game, organizers heightened
security. When the U.S. charter flight from Seoul arrived at Daegu
Airport on Sunday, two tanks were on the runway and the Americans were
greeted by the usual SWAT teams and police.
2002 World Cup
Preview
Second round or bust!
Schedule (.pdf)
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