History of the South Korea national football team
The same year, the South Korean national team made its international debut and won 5–3 against Mexico at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
South Korea lost their only two games by heavy margins: 9–0 against Hungary (the joint-heaviest defeat in World Cup history) and 7–0 against Turkey.
[12] At the 1968 Summer Olympics qualification, South Korea was eliminated by goal difference, despite being tied with Japan, the group winners, on points.
[12] Yangzee was eventually dissolved in March 1970 without ever having played against North Korea, but players achieved a good result by winning the 1970 Asian Games.
After one of the greatest forwards of German Bundesliga at that time, Cha Bum-kun,[18][19] joined the existing winning team, the South Korean squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup was evaluated as the golden generation in their country.
Afterwards, South Korean newscasts and journalists criticised the referee David Socha, claiming that his judgements about situations of the game were poor including the decision to award a penalty to Italy.
South Korea consecutively won four early qualifiers against Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, and quickly solidified their position as first place of the group.
On 18 December 2000, the KFA named Dutch coach Guus Hiddink as the manager of the team for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted in South Korea.
[28] At the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, they lost 5–0 against France, the eventual champions, and failed to advance to the semi-finals although defeating Australia and Mexico.
Park Ji-sung scored in a 1–0 victory, allowing the South Korean team to qualify for the second round for the first time in their history.
The South Korean team was awarded an early penalty but Ahn Jung-hwan's effort was saved by Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Francesco Totti was controversially sent off for an alleged dive and Ahn redeemed his missed penalty by scoring the winner with a headed golden goal, allowing them to advance to the quarter-final.
[42] In the fourth round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, they recorded four wins and four draws without a loss against North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they won their first game against Greece 2–0, with goals from Lee Jung-soo and Park Ji-sung.
Kim Pan-gon, the KFA official in charge of finding a new manager, contracted Paulo Bento and his coaching team to set long-term goals after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Bento severed relations with the technical committee and managed the national team with only his coaching staff after Kim Pan-gon resigned from the association.
[47][48][49] Before the tournament, Son Heung-min, the Premier League Golden Boot winner and one of South Korea's key players, injured his eye socket and wasn't in optimal condition.
[50] At the World Cup, South Korea contested a goalless draw with Uruguay, and encountered a crisis after losing 3–2 to Ghana in the second match.
Their defense failed to block all three of Ghana's shots on target, although their striker Cho Gue-sung scored two goals with headers.
However, South Korea defeated Portugal 2–1 with Kim Young-gwon and Hwang Hee-chan's goals, advancing to the knockout stage as group runners-up.
[53] Despite a 4–1 defeat to Brazil in the round of 16, the four-year challenge with Bento was finally appreciated by journalists and set a good direction for South Korean football.
During the second half, Cho Kwang-rae won a crucial penalty, and Paraguay gave up the match after two Paraguayan players who didn't accept the judgement were sent off for hitting the referee.
[56][57] This scene was a historic moment as South Korea won a world football competition for the first time, although it was not achieved in a professional tournament.
Nevertheless, Lee did not concede a goal until the end of extra time, and made a save from the shot of Britain's fifth kicker Daniel Sturridge in the penalty shoot-out.
South Korea beat Great Britain 5–4 on penalties and Lee was praised by finishing the game successfully, but the compliments turned to criticisms after the semi-finals.
South Korea won their first-ever medal in Olympic football after defeating Japan 2–0, and the medalists were exempted from mandatory military service according to the laws of the country.
They were called the "London Generation" in South Korea, and most of them played for the senior team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where they were eliminated after finishing last in their group.
[60] South Korea's under-19 team, which finished third in the qualifying tournament, was initially ineligible to play in the final stage of the 1982 AFC Youth Championship.
Manager Park Jong-hwan trained his team with tactics that demanded a lot of endurance and teamwork for the World Youth Championship.
