World Cup 2018: Three reasons why South Korea beat Germany 2-0

Football, football, football, football. Sigh! Who on Earth would have predicted such a script at the Kazan Arena?

The judgement day in Group F went down to the wire when Germany v South Korea began. The ‘World champions’ curse in FIFA World Cup continued as South Korea netted two late goals against a German side hungry to get onto the scoresheet.

Undoubtedly, every soul that celebrates this beautiful game will be feeling the shockwaves flowing across the globe.

Goals from Young-Gwon Kim and Heung-Min Son helped the South Koreans carve out one of the brightest days in their football history.

On the other side, Joachim Low and his troops will take an early flight home, with hearts filled with pain and agony.

On a day where it looked like the champions would enjoy a plain sail against a mediocre South Korean outfit and top their group with 6 points, they ended up in the basement instead, conceding two late goals and damaging their own goal difference.

This infamous defeat for the Germans and an emphatic yet unpredictable victory for Sweden meant that Sweden topped their group on the final match day, with Mexico finishing second with a worse goal difference.

The first-half of the game provided a large picture of what was in store for us. Germany bossed in possession, worked the ball around, played passes and crosses, but couldn’t find a breakthrough. On the other side, Shin Tae-Yong's team knew they were in for a long evening.

Amidst a rather subdued atmosphere in the stadium, Heung-Min Son and co. enjoyed the better chances despite seeing very little of the ball.

The best chance of the opening half fell to Hummels when he tip-toed past a couple of defenders but saw his shot smothered away by the star of the show, Hyun-Woo Cho.

Frustration grew as Die Mannschaft were unable to break the well-drilled opposition defence. Whenever the backline endured a lapse in concentration, the South Korean gloveman came to the rescue.

The Germans had better opportunities in the second-half, the best ones falling to Mats Hummels, Leon Goretzka, and Timo Werner. The former could have scored a hat-trick to be honest, as he missed the easiest of free headers.

Here are three reasons why South Korea beat Germany:

#1 A well-structured back line

This has been one of the highlights of World Cup 2018. Most of the underdog sides that go into a fixture aim to choke the opposition’s forwards and bank on their counter-attacking prowess. Not all teams have managed to do so, but South Korea stunned Germany and the rest of the world with their resolve and concentration.

The story was the same this time around too. Young-Sun Yun and Young-Gwon Kim marshaled a formidable looking back line, where the full-backs joined them in narrower positions to crowd the box.

The wingers dropped in deeper to guard the box, followed by the two forwards – who tracked their opponents down excellently well.

Crosses were allowed to come in, but each green shirt was man-marked to perfection.

They also played rough football, closing down German players, tightening up spaces and bundling them over without any fear.

As a result, four of their players were shown the yellow card. This strategy proved to be vital, as the Germans ran out of ideas and empty channels.

While some people refer to it as ‘parking a bus’, others will call it a tactical masterclass. However, it’s important to know that apart from focus, sharpness, positional and aerial strengths, defending for a whole of 90 minutes is mentally taxing.

#2 Thriving on the little opportunities

Unlike their counterparts, the Asians capitalized on their little moments – both at the back and while going forward.

While defending, they poured their hearts and souls into this game. Playing a deep line invites long rangers and extra bit of space to the opposition, but almost every time a German forward or midfielder tried to line one up, a Taegeuk Warrior would charge front and put his body on the line fearlessly.

They won headers, blocked shots, tackled sharply, won the ball in higher parts of the pitch and read passes quickly. With that, they also grew in confidence.

Now, if their forward play is taken into account, the Asian outfit had their task cut out. Going by a well-crafted counter-attacking plan, Heung-Min Son and Seon-Min Moon played one-twos, bought time for midfielders and went forward with conviction.

They could have scored in the first-half itself, owing to the better opportunities that fell in their favor. Nonetheless, a couple of attacking shifts looked promising as far as their forward play was considered.

Kim’s well-taken goal - which was declared by VAR and Son’s late flourish put the icing on top.

#3 Hyun-Woo Cho was unbeatable

There was no stopping this keeper. One could run out of adjectives to describe the level of his performance. Surely, each and every Germany fan along with Mats Hummels would remember his name for a long long time.

A few months back, he wasn’t even in contention to guard goal for his country. Hyun did not appear in the qualifying matches, but today, he just displayed sheer confidence and brutal mentality to deny Germany from getting past his brilliant presence between the sticks.

He made seven outstanding saves, each one better than the other. The best of the lot came when Goretzka found himself free in the box and guided a fantastic header most certain to land in the back of the net, only to be denied by this flying shot-stopper.

He also thwarted away Hummels’, Gomez’s and Werner’s efforts to keep his clean sheet intact.

When a goalkeeper in this kind of touch, it takes something more than special to stop him.

Was Korea's win over Germany one of the biggest upsets in recent memory? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!