Korea Asia

Korea lose in their opening for the first time in 20 years

by Il-han Ryu

South Korea was defeated 0:1 in their opening game of the 2018 World Cup.

Korea played against Sweden at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on 18 June. Sweden’s Andreas Granqvist scored the penalty on 65 minutes, while Shin Tae-yong’s side could not change the result.

Including a 2:0 victory over Poland in the 2002 World Cup, Korea had gone 3W1D in the last four opening games. This is the first opening defeat in the last 20 years since the 1998 World Cup, which ended their undefeated strike.

Korea have never reached the round of 16 with the opening defeat in their last nine appearances since 1954 when they lost 0:9.