Despite the lack of number one star Son Heung-min, South Korea still showed great strength, beating Lebanon 1-0 away, just one step away from qualifying for the World Cup again. Importantly, this game also allowed the South Korean team to create a miracle: after seven rounds of the round of 12, they never fell behind on the field, and even against Iran, they were the first to be tied again. This is enough to see the coaching skills of manager Paul Bento.
A focus match in the 7th round of the Round of 12, with South Korea away to Lebanon. Before the match, South Korea ranked second in the group with 14 points, and Lebanon ranked fourth with 5 points, but because it was one point behind the third-place UAE team, Lebanon had to win this battle to further chase points.
In terms of this lineup, the South Korean team sent Lee Jae-sung, Hwang In-fan, Hwang Yoe-joo, Jeong You-young, Kim Hyun-jae and others to start due to the absence of Son Heung-woo. The Lebanese team sent Michel, Martok, O'Malley and others to the game.
In the 38th minute, Lebanon sent the ball into the South Korean team penalty area, Mikel hit the crossbar with one kick and popped up, Michelle made up for the first time at the back point, and the result was to fly the ball. The South Korean team escaped the attack.
In the first half of stoppage time, the South Korean team launched an attack on the left side, Hwang Yi-su crossed, and Cho Kyu-sung swept the shovel in front of the goal. The South Korean team broke the deadlock in an unfavorable situation and led the opponent 1-0.
In the 71st minute, the South Korean team crossed from the right, Hwang Yi-su was hidden in front of the point, and Hwang Yi-bum leaned over and headed the ball at the back point, and the ball was slightly offside. In the 80th minute, after a quick counterattack from the South Korean midfielder,Hwang Yoo-suo's volley from the right side of the penalty area was saved by the opposing goalkeeper.
In the end, the South Korean team won 1-0 away with a very solid performance, killing the opponent twice, and also kept two consecutive clean sheets, and the 5 wins and 2 draws in the round of 12 have remained unbeaten. Coupled with a 5-1 win over Iceland and a 4-0 win over Moldova in two games earlier this month, South Korea won three straight games and exploded in Son Heung-min's absence. Coach Paul Bento also played face with the steady and efficient performance of coaching the Korean team.
As early as 2018, Paul Bento used to coach the Chinese Super League team Chongqing team, but was fired by the club in the case of leading the team to win, and even questioned his coaching ability by fans, and as a result, he became the coach of the South Korean team less than a month after leaving class. Now, the Chinese football that questioned him was out of the round of 12 early, and he was fired by the Chinese Super League, but he led the South Korean team to create miracles and achieve counterattacks. The contrast between his coaching performances in Chinese and Korean football is so strong that it cannot but be thought-provoking.