Doha, Qatar] South Korea eliminated Saudi Arabia from the Asian Cup round of 16 on Wednesday (31st) and advanced to the last eight. Cho Hyun-woo, who saved two shots from Saudi Arabia during the 12-yard shootout, was voted as the best player of the match after the game. The Taeji-Tigers, who have been criticized for their performance this year, said after the match that the team's victory was due to the mutual trust between the players and the coach.
South Korea's performance in this year's group stage was not satisfactory, and many of their players were under public criticism, including Cho Hyun-woo, who was appointed as the gatekeeper for South Korea because of the ruptured cruciate ligament in the right knee of the goalkeeper Kim Seung-kyu. However, the 32-year-old goalkeeper played a competitive game this time, saving the shots of Ainaje and Gareth during the 12-yard period, and became the key contributor to South Korea's advancement. Responding to the criticism, Cho Hyun-woo, who attended the post-match press conference as the Player of the Match, said, "As a goalkeeper, I never want to concede a goal. My number one goal is to keep the game alive, but both the team and I want to forget about the past and work hard to get ready for the next game.
Cho Hyun-woo believes South Korea won the game because they had more faith: "The win was all about keeping the faith, the coach encouraged us to have confidence in ourselves and the team, so before we had to exchange 12-yard shots, I was sure that I would be able to catch the opponent's shot, and it really worked out to help the team qualify. He explained that his confidence in the game was due to the preparation he had done in training: "Confidence is built in training, we have done a lot of training for the 12-yard shot, the goalkeeper coach had full confidence in me and said that no matter what decision I made, they gave me a lot of confidence, and when I have the chance to take a shot from 12 yards, I'm sure that I'll be able to do the same thing".
