South Korea’s men’s national soccer team, led by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, won 3-1 against Bahrain in the first Group E match of Qatar 2023 at the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup held at Jasim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 8:30 p.m. on the 15th (Korea time). With this, South Korea got off to a good start by garnering three points from its first group match.
In this game, South Korea took the lead with Hwang In-beom’s goal in the 39th minute of the first half. However, he later balanced 1-1 by losing a point to Al Hashashi in the 6th minute. With the game going hard, Lee Kang-in emerged as a hero.
In the 11th minute of the second half, Kim Min-jae passed a fast pass from the left side, and Lee Kang-in, who caught the ball, fired a powerful left-footed shot from a far point from the box. The ball was wound perfectly and shook the net.
In the 23rd minute of the second half, Hwang In-beom caught the ball handed by Son Heung-min in a counterattack and passed it toward Lee Kang-in, who was rushing from the right side. Lee Kang-in calmly fired a left-footed shot to score multiple goals.
Korea ended the game with a 3-1 victory. However, Kim Min-jae was also warned at the 13th minute in the first half when he was trying to block opponent midfielder Mohammed Maroon from breaking through. It was a bit excessive decision made by Chinese referee Manning.
It is a yellow card that is hard to understand. Scenes in which Kim Min-jae blocked the opponent’s defense can be seen as a normal defense and physical struggle. The card of Kim Min-jae, the “pillar” of the Korean defense, is a strike that exceeds one point.
Yellow cards are initialized from the quarterfinals, but Kim Min-jae’s card is an element of instability that can explode at any time. He is not a player who frequently warns against yellow cards in his team. However, referee Manning declared a yellow card with a question mark, and will take part in the tournament anyway.
In the match, Korea’s Park Yong-woo, Lee Ki-je, Cho Kyu-sung and Son Heung-min received yellow cards, including Kim Min-jae. There are only five yellow cards. Bahrain also received two cards, so both teams were given a total of seven cards. Coach Klinsmann needs smarter management of the tournament as he tries to win the title.
Immediately after the game ended, Klinsmann complained, saying, “Chinese referees played too many cards in such an early hour. This made it difficult to manage the game.”
“I had no choice but to replace Lee Ki-je and Kim Min-jae, who also had warnings in the second half because I was afraid they would give me a yellow card. I gave the card too indiscriminately,” he added.
National team captain Son Heung-min also complained of unfairness, saying, “I didn’t dive.”
Manning, the referee of the match, is famous for being in a bad position in China’s own league as well. He is also a notorious referee in the Chinese Super League due to his excessive number of cards and unfair game play. In fact, Manning is notorious for playing 676 yellows, 25 yellows, and 16 reds in 152 games in the Chinese Super League.
Compared to such notoriety, he participated in the 2022 Qatar World Cup as a highly trusted referee in the Chinese Super League, and was also the referee in the opening match of last year’s Club World Cup. He even participated in the Club World Cup final and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League final.
China’s Zvo Dotcom said, “Manning is a referee who participated in the opening and final matches of the World Cup in Qatar and the Club World Cup. He even served as the referee in the second leg of the AFC final. He surprised people with fewer cards than usual by taking out only two yellows in the match.”
BY: 토토