According to some of the topics and comments on Korean social media, many people were upset with Brazil for replacing the third goalie. Some Korean netizens said it was a very unpleasant thing to do. Others said that Brazil completely disrespected the South Korean team. Some pointed out that when Germany beat Brazil 7-1, it also had the goalie play the entire game. Most Korean netizens despised Brazil for their disrespectful behavior, and very few pointed out that Brazil disrespected them, but Korea was so weak that it was clear that this was someone with a bit of self-awareness.
Throughout the match, Korea and Brazil were not even on the same level. Whether it was the forwards, the midfield or the backfield, Korea was beaten by Brazil. Previously, Korea's head coach Paul also blasted FIFA for not respecting the weaker teams and making it easier to schedule the stronger teams. However, against a world-class team like Brazil, it was clear that Korea could not utilize any off-field factors to recover from its direct strength disadvantage. As for the comments from Korean netizens, the Brazilian players obviously won't accept them.
Even a famous player from European soccer criticized Neymar for disrespecting the opponent's goalkeeper. Neymar used his body to lean to the left and tricked the keeper directly into taking the penalty, which was a perfect one. It was clear that the South Korean keeper was trying to play mind games with Neymar. He cleared a goal straight from the start, hoping Neymar would fall into his trap. As the world's top soccer star, how could Neymar fall into the Korean keeper's trap so easily?
Needless to say, the two sides really weren't on the same level in this match. At the end of the day, even though South Korea is very strong in Asia, Sun Xingyi cannot make up for it on his own against a world-class powerhouse. Furthermore, South Korea is probably the least qualified team to criticize other national teams for disrespecting their people. Looking back at the World Cup between South Korea and Japan 20 years ago, the world knows that South Korea used the referees to cheat. So far, Portuguese and Italian fans have despised Korea.
Fans just laugh off these World Cup off-field remarks as they will ultimately speak based on the strength of their team. However, for Chinese fans, this is obviously an even more tragic situation, as the Chinese men's soccer team did not even qualify for the World Cup. If the Chinese men's soccer team had been able to play Brazil, Chinese fans probably wouldn't have cared at all about anyone else's behavior in replacing their number three goalkeeper. South Korea is now done with their World Cup tour. Unfortunately for them, they won't find face time on the internet when they return home.
I wonder if anyone has any other thoughts or opinions on this matter? Feel free to share them in the comments below.
