On Saturday, Aug. 4, the South Korea soccer team went up against Great Britain’s team and won. Many expected that Great Britain would easily beat the Korean team. However, despite all odds, South Korea was able to win the match, leaving many very baffled and at a loss for words.
Around the 29-minute mark, South Korea’s Ji Dong-won scored a long-range shot. Unfortunately, not long after, Great Britain’s Aaron Ramsey tied the score with a penalty shot. He later had the chance to make another penalty shot, which would have given Britain a 2-1 lead, but his shot did not make it in.
The game continued on with South Korea gaining the upper hand in offense and defense; however, the team missed many chances at goals. The game even went into overtime, in which both teams failed to shoot goals. Towards the end of the game, South Korea’s Nam Tae-hee fouled another player, giving Great Britain another chance at a penalty shot. Unfortunately, the game ended with a 1-1 tie, leading to the penalty shootout.
During the penalty shootout, Great Britain had the first kick while South Korean substitute goalkeeper Lee Bum-young attempted to block the shot. By the 5th shot, both sides had failed to miss a goal. However, on the 5th kick, Daniel Sturridge, who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League, missed his penalty shot. With the tension building, Sturridge had paused for a second before delivering the shot to the right side of the goal. However, Lee guessed correctly and dived to block the shot. With this loss, the British soccer team grew anxious as Ki Sung-yueng stepped up to kick Korea’s last penalty shot. He made the winning penalty shot, eliminating Britain’s chances of getting a gold medal for soccer and leading South Korea up to the next round against Brazil.
Many people were worried when Lee could not block the first 4 penalty shots. “I wasn’t sure if he could block any of the shots. I grew very nervous,” stated Sharon Lim, who watched the game live with her family. However, as he blocked the last one, all were relieved. He soon became the number 1 search on many Korean search engines. After the game, when asked what he thought about the penalty shootout, he answered, “I was confident about the penalty shootout, so I was not that worried.”
