South Korea scored a late winner to seal a come-from-behind win over the previously unbeaten Portugal to book their place in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup and eliminate Uruguay in the process.
Needing a win to stand a chance of progressing at Education City Stadium, South Korea fell behind early before finding their battling spirit just in time to win 2-1.
Ricardo Horta opened the scoring after just 5 minutes, putting away a Diogo Dalot pass to score on his tournament debut. South Korea had the ball in the net in the 17th minute, but Kim Jin-su was deemed to be offside before they finally found parity ten minutes later when Kim Young-gwon scored after a ball fell kindly to him.
With time running out for South Korea to find a second goal which would have seen them progress to the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup above Uruguay, Son Heung-min finally delivered for his country by leading a quick counter-attack before Hwang Hee-chan finished off the move to seal a memorable win for his side.
Despite the win, their celebrations were muted as they waited for Uruguay’s match against Ghana in Group H’s other fixture to complete.
The South Americans won the contest 2-0 with Giorgian de Arrascaeta scoring both goals but they could not find a much-needed third to bow out of the competition.
Uruguay’s slow start to the tournament finally caught up with them as their campaign came to a premature end despite the presence of some serious young talent.
