Which means that, I’m afraid is the end of this blog. Thanks all for your company and comments – sorry I couldn’t use them all – and enjoy the next two games. Two games! Peace out.
And with that, Jonathan Wilson’s report has arrived, so here it is:
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“Are you seriously suggesting peak-Cavani ‘wasn’t half the player’ peak-Suarez was?” wonders Mark Dunlop. “To quote Danny from Withnail & I - ‘very, very foolish words, man’.”
Listen, my hairs are my aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos. And they tell me that peak Cavani was a very good player, but peak Suarez was one of the most devastating players I’ve ever seen.
A thought for you: might it be that we’re seeing goalless draws because teams are fit enough – physically and mentally – to defend well for 90 minutes?
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“I think Cavani has presented more of a threat than Suarez in the few minutes he’s been on,” says Colum Fordham, “writing from Naples where Edinson Cavani was revered as a hero. On the flag front, some of the monarchist revivalist Napoli fan groups have added the rather garish Bourbon flag dripping with gold tassles to the simple light blue of the team’s colours and the donkey mascot with rather alarming results.”
I agree on Cavani. He wasn’t half the player Suarez was at his peak, but he’s aged a lot better.
Please Sir, I want some more.
In the last world Cup, we had one goalless draw in 63 games; so far here, we’ve had four. I don’t think any of them have been stinkers, but there’s been too little attacking zest and basic competence.
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FULL-TIME: Uruguay 0-0 South Korea
Uruguay came closer to scoring, hitting the woodwork twice, but Uijo should also have scored for Korea; the truth is neither side showed enough quality to score, and Group H looks like being a tighty.
90+7 min Varela gets a run on Jinsu, who dives in front of him; he’s away! But no, Jinsu’s bought the free-kick – that’s superb defending.
90+6 min Uruguay win a corner down the left … which De La Cruz pumps into Seunggyu’s arms.
90+5 min Uruguay have put themselves under pressure with this performance – they’ve not been positive enough, I don’t think – and if there’s a positive result when Korea play Ghana, they might need something from the Portugal game.
90+4 min Valverde’s played well tonight, but the way his team have set up hasn’t allowed him enough scope to make enough happen.
90+2 min Cho gets clear down the left … thinks he’s got clear down the left, but here comes Valverde, tanking in pursuit before sliding in and celebrating like he’s scored.
90+1 min A terrible clearance from Rochet is picked up by Cho, who finds Son, and from the edge of the box he drives just wide; that was a difficult chance, but we’ve seen him take harder ones. We’ll have seven added minutes which Danny Murphy thinks it’s hard to grasp, but the truth is we should have similar every time.
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90 min Valverde, who’s looked likelyish when on the ball, takes it 30 yards out, has a look, then absolutely explodes into a screeching drive that clatters the near post – though I think Seunggyu had it covered.
89 min Cho blatantly glances at Big Jose Gimenez, who collapses; Cho is mystifyingly booked.
88 min A player who never plays for Man United is replaced by a player who almost never played for Man United, Varela on for Pellistri.
88 min Bentancur tosses a ball into the box from the right touchline and Cavani extends every fibre of neck and skull to get a touch, but the ball drops beyond the far post despite Vina’s best efforts to catch up with it.
86 min It’s Uruguay pushing the pace now, but they’ve lacked midfield guile and wide thrust.
84 min “Greeting from the cold north,” says Anders Naess. “Off topic, but for walrus-based heraldry it’s hard to beat the shield of arms of Svalbard.”
Heraldry always makes me think of 15-1. One of my mates was on it and possesses an absurd general knowledge, but got two questions which William G prefaced with that very word.
83 min Pien Meulensteen – who’s done a really good job, I think – refers to Group Haitch, which makes me think I’ve solved a problem within the England squad. Harry Maguire can be Aitch, and Harry Kane can be Haitch. You’re welcom,e lads.
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81 min Cavani comes off the front and holds up well – that ability makes him a better option than Suarez, I think – and finds Nunez, to his left, who nips back inside and curls seeking the far post, while Cavani flings hair seeking to impart a little deflection. Both fail.
80 min Danny Murphy is disappointed in Uruguay and so am I. There’s been a lack of zip and risk in their play and I also wonder if they suffer, as Portugal did in the Euros, from the manager picking an ageing genius to the detriment of the team.
79 min Double change for Uruguay, De La Cruz and Vina on for Vecino and Olivera.
77 mim I said I was sure we’d get a goal, but excuse me whole I interrupt myself, a turn around the corner from Inbeom and Cho, pulling off the front, has space! He looks, then tries a low shot from 20 yards that he drags a touch, so it scuttles a yard or two wide of the near post.
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75 min Son isolates Caceres and shows Pellistri how it’s done, a skip inside inciting the shift of weight that allows him to dip outside, Bentancur forced to hump clear his low cross.
75 min Triple change for Korea, Lee, cho and Son on, Uijo, Sangho and Jaesung off.
73 min “Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is a peach,” returns Steve Brennan. “Certainly the best featuring a Cossack.”
72 min Uruguay probe, and they’re getting Pellistri on the ball and in space now. But this time, his cross, aimed for Cavani, is read by a defender – Younggwon I think – who dives to head clear.
71 min Pellistri gets Jinsu one v one but telegraphs that he’s going on the outside and also when he’s going on the outside, so when he does, he can’t get the space to force a decent cross, instead slipping into a poor one.
70 min Uruguay are upping the pressure now, but Korea have defended and are defending superbly.
69 min And there’s Cavani over those two yards, Valverde’s ball swinging into him so he can take it away from his man and around the corner with his first touch, but his second, a shot, is well blocked by Minjae.
68 min “Your brining recipe/recommendation is particularly appropriate today,” says Matt Burtz, “as it is Thanksgiving here in the USA (though ideally the brining would have happened yesterday). It’s fashionable nowadays to profess one’s dislike for turkey, but I love it.”
If ever a bird needed a brining, it’s turkey. Happy Thanskgiving all, and enjoy the various forms of ball you’re being served.
66 min I don’t totally get that change. Suarez is doing nowt, but the problem isn’t just him, it’s that his team are struggling to get involved. Cavani might score – he gives an aerial option, and a bit more of a burst over two yards – but he’s not going to change the balance of play.
64 min Minjae is down, having hurt knee and ankle being rousted on the outside. I think he’ll be fine to continue, though, and Uruguay replace Suarez with Cavani.
63 min Moonhwan down the right and he squares to Son, whose first touch its clever and almost perfect. But the ball runs away from him, Uruguay go across the back four, and Godin drill a brilliant ball out to Nunez down the left. He skirts around Minjae, runs along the by-line, and looks up to see Suarez in the middle, then opts to go alone with no angle, and, with Yunggwon blocking him off, no hope of one. But he tries a shot anyway, and Seunggyu saves as Nunez knew he would. Strange behaviour, strange player.
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61 min One set of fans are singing the Eurovision theme, I’m not sure why. Ode to Joy was Tony Blair’s favourite song, when he was on Radio 4. When he was on Radio 1, it was Sympathy for the Devil.
60 min Uruguay are really struggling to get their better players on the ball in good areas. They probably need to remove Suarez and get another midfielder on, but they’re actually preparing Edinson Cavani, who’s returned from his sabbatical in the Peak District.
58 min “All this talk of flags and no one has mentioned Sicily!” exclaims Pete Salmon. “A Medusa with three legs and wings! Wheat! The red stands for Palermo and the yellow stands for Corleone. Literally everything you need to know about Sicily in one rectangle.”
56 min Caceres shoves Son over then treads on his boot, so there’s a break while he’s treated. I’m not sure who’s directing the replays during this competition, incidentally, but I am sure that they’re never of what I want to see again, when I want to see it again. Caceres is booked.
54 min Wooyoung slides in on Nnuez, introducing studs to ankle, but without attracting a card. The free-kick is pumped towards the box and Pellistri jinks across a challenge, allowing Bentancur, on the burst, to take it off him and ram a shot from the edge that Minjae blocks really well.
53 min Korea want a penalty for shove by Bentancur as that punch was disbursed, but there was nowhere near enough in that, and to emphasise the point, he escapes the box with some lovely footwork.
52 min Outswinger from Son, 83 men up at the near post, and the ball goes across the face of goal where Rochet punches clear.
52 min Sangho goes at Olivera again and forces a corner with a cross that’s blocked behind.
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51 min Jinsu finds Son, who isolates Gimenez and looks to skirt around him; if he can, he’ll have a shot on. But Gimemez doesn’t fall for the feint and times his challenge to perfection; he’s playing superbly here.
50 min The crushed filling in a Suarez-Wooyong sarnie, Jinsu gets a bang on the swede, but he’ll be fine.
48 min Uijo runs across the face of the box, so Gimenez absolutely flattens him with a very fine tackle. I’m enjoying the way the refs are letting the games run here – we can err on the side of laxity when it comes to allowing challenges that win the ball.
48 min Son pulls left and tries to twinkletoe Caceres, who’s having no such thing.
47 min If this game is a draw, this group will get very interesting, and already I’m wondering if we might see all four sides involved until the end.
46 min “The flag tierlist generator could definitely be used for this:,” says Carwyn Morris. “There is even a ‘community rank’ which puts Brazil top and South Korea in the S tier along with. .. the UK?! Clearly some patriotic list makers here.”
Goodness me.
46 min We go again…
Our players have returned.
Disaster strikes! “Korea has run out of take out fried chicken!” laments Richard Prasad. “Can’t find anywhere that’s taking orders ... at least there’s still beer. World Cups past, when Ji-Sung Park was Korea’s talisman, when we listened to Korean commentary every time they’d say his name we’d drink. Got messy. Now listening to him on commentary. And drinking whenever they say Heung-min Son’s name.”
How is Park’s commentary? His cushty trio with Tevez and Evra was one of my favourite things about 00s football.
Oh yes, Paul Haynes sends us the flag of Zheleznogorsk.
Half-time email: “If you’re not already familiar with it, you should seek out the flag for the state of Maryland,” says John Powers. “It’s loud, it’s obnoxious, and they display it everywhere…”
Half-time reading: Brian McClair, snot rockets, and timekeeping in football.
HALF-TIME: Uruguay 0-0 South Korea
Another fun game – the one added minute tells us there’s a tempo – with no goals, but I feel pretty sure we’ll get at least one at some point.
45 min There’ll be one added minute.
45 minNunez is up front now, which makes sense – he’s wasted on the wing and Suarez is no longer the one-man forward-line he was. And Nunez runs at Inbeom, who stretches out to make sure the foul is correctly adminstered. Uruguay make nothing of the free-kick.
44 min The corner is a decent one and Godin turns it into a brilliant one, leaping with the fury you expect to deliver a mighty header that clatters the base of the far post! Oh man, that was serious behaviour! But Uruguay have to make do with a further corner, that comes to nowt.
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43 min Uruguay counter with Valverde, who finds Pellistri, and he crosses for Suarez, but Youngghwon sticks the ball behind.
41 min “Angry Welshman here,” says Matthew Fry. “e have the best flag, it has a dragon on it. I would also put forward the flags of the counties of Liberia, they have a real ‘took me ten minutes on MS paint’ kind of charm. I think Maryland county is my favourite.
40 min Jaeusung makes a good run at inside-right, he looks to cross … and Godin is there to clear.
39 min More Korea possession, then Inbeom decides he’s having a dig from 30, clouting the back stanchion.
38 min Uruguay probe, but Korea’s defensive spacing is really good and Vecnino eventually passes into touch. So far, they’ve only created via Gimenez’s long passes – they’ve got to get the ball out to Pellistri, who’s had very little of it so far.
36 min Uruguay’s full-backs are giving their team a problem. They keep getting caught either too narrow or too wide, which also tells us that Korea’s wide players are moving really well.
34 min Arrrrggghhh! Korea pin Uruguay inside their own box and Moonhwan finds a great position down the right of the box, found by a great, snapped pass from Inbeom. The cross is perfect, picking out Uijo, who waits alone in the box; all he has to do is sweep into the far corner, but the eyes light up, the head goes back and the ball goes over the top.
33 min “Sharing joy?” emails Matt Dony. “Richard Dawson’s new album, The Ruby Cord, is a thing of absolute beauty. Late play for album of the year. I can’t stop playing it. In more relevant fields (and I’m aware that I’m hardly the first person to make this point), is there a strike partnership with more potential for chaos that’s Suarez and Nunez? The sublime, the ridiculous, everything in between, multiple times a match.”
Go on then. I think this is my single of the year.
32 min South Korea get it wide with Jinsu, but his cross isn’t flat enough, so Sangho has no chance of winning it in the air against Caceres.
31 min
@DanielHarris The flag of Cusco, Peru is pretty cool. I think we should all be Peruvians for the duration of the World Cup pic.twitter.com/khcVjCiS2E
— Richard Morris (@richardmorrisuk) November 24, 2022
Good beer there too.
31 min South Korea keep it for a bit, recognising the balance of play has switched against them.
29 min “Weighing in on the flag talk,” says Jack Ball, the lack of love for the Seychelles gorgeous flag is troubling. To round out the top five, Barbados, Brazil, Kenya, Bhutan. Bottom of the pile, Nepal. Get that double triangle flag outta here!”
I agree on Seychelles and Brazil, though respect Nepal for trying something different. I wish I could grab pics of them all, but there’s a game going on, I think. I do, tough, heartily recommend the kids’ placemats with a map of the world on one side and flags of the world on the other.
27 min Ohhhhhh maaaaate! Olivera takes it off Bentnacur to lead a Uruguayan counter, and they’ve a man over! It’s Darwin Nunez! But with so much space and time to measure the pass, Olivera loses the run of himself, overhitting his pass when there was so much margin of error to stick his mate in on the goalie.
26 min First flash of serious Son. He veers in off the left, totally diddles Olivera, and curls towards the far post, but Godin is there to head clear.
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25 min He aims for Gimenez, a phalanx of bodies leap, and a defender’s head flicks behind for a corner that comes to nowt.
24 min Uruguay are starting to assert themselves, Valverde to the fore. He’s grabbed around the neck, but Wooyoung I think, and will now stick the free-kick into the box from 40 yards out….
23 min “With all due respect for the pain your wife had gone through during WC 2010,” says Admir Pajic, “can we put the whole ‘Suarez robbed Ghana’ narrative into the bin? Suarez made a professional foul to prevent a clear goal. He didn’t injure anyone. He didn’t even bite anyone! He didn’t get away with it - he got a red card that forced him to sit through the World Cup semifinal match v Netherlands. The ref made a correct call to give a penalty to Ghana. Asamoah Gyan missed it but even that wasn’t the end for Ghana as they had a chance to win the penalty shoot-out. They didn’t. Maradona v England in 1986, referee Byron Moreno v Italy in 2002 and referee Peter O’Leary v Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2014 got away without punishment. Suarez served his time.”
I agree. The game tells you what happens if you do certain things, Suarez did one of them, and Ghana couldn’t punish him.
22 min Better from Uruguay, another lovely pass from Gimenez, this time out to the right, allowing Pellistri to cushion a cross that Nunez, running, leaping and buffeting can’t quite connect with. Suarez turns the ball back in, but Korea clear.
19 min But then, out of nowhere, Jimenez unfurls a glorious pass from halfway to box, Valverde leaping to control. But as he tries to adjust his body ad find a shooting lane a defender intervenes and the ball goes behind. That should’ve been a corner, but Clement appraises a goalkick.
18 min Korea are stretching the play really well here, and again Sangho keeps the width down the right and they find him. He can’t then find a decent cross, but his side are currently the better one.
17 min Another good switch, this time to the left, sees Jinsu powering forward from left-back – Pellistri is slow to follow – but a poor first touch means he can’t wrap foot around cross before ball races behind.
15 min “Contradictory names,” says Eanna Mac Craith. “Best has to be Dennis Wise?”
I actually meant first and surname, as in Clement Turpin, but name and person? I enjoy Mark Noble, but Felipe Melo is my favourite.
13 min Son chucks a lollipop at Pellistri, so Caceres extends a thigh for him to leap over, with no foul given. Uruguay then race forward, Suarez lofting a pass from left to centre for the onrushing Vecino, but it’s coming over his shoulder and he can’t control, so Seunggyu collects easily enough.
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11 min Uruguay is in my top-five flags,” says Steve Brennan. “Only bettered by France, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the Isle of Man.”
Mine, off the top of my head: Uganda, Macedonia, Colombia, Italy, Ghana.
10 min A serious challenge from Valverde sets Uruguay away, but they can’t make the most of a throw deep inside the Korea half and immediately Korea spring. They can’t make anything of the opportunity, but they’ve not come to frustrate. Uruguay, meanwhile, aren’t playing the 4-4-2 I expected; Nunez is on the left, Pellistri on the right, and Valverde in the middle.
8 min This time, Son goes low to the near post, a kind of Anderton for Sheringham effort, but again Nunez is there to intercede.
7 min Another big switch from left-to-right sees Sangho isolate Olivera and meg him along the by-line. That is very brave behaviour, and his low cross is deflected behind, giving Korea another corner.
6 min South Korea are looking for big switches, but Nnuez intercepts one and moves down the left, so Sangho upends him. There’s a pleasing tempo to this, and some excitingly solid challenges have already been dispensed.
4 min South Korea have started well, swift and adroit in midfield, and when In-beom riggles around Vecino, he’s immediately punished with some Uruguayan justice.
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4 min “Uruguay’s second-round victory over South Korea in 2010 is one of those matches that have stuck in my head,” confesses Kári Tulinius. “In memory, the Koreans were much better than Uruguay and had, conservatively estimated, a gajillion chances to win it after equalising, but Suarez then scored an absolute beauty and that was that. Not the best story he ruined during that World Cup, mind you (still bitter).”
You’re not the only one. My wife is British-Ghanaian, so we were robbed of some serious celebrations.
2 min Son swings out to the near post, where Nunez does well to head clear. Imediately, Uruguay counter, Rochet kicking out well to Valverde, but South Korea race back and Nunez is soon unloaded.
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1 min Suarez flips over his first challenge, then Minjae of Napoli sends a decent ball out to Sangho down the right, which forces a corner out of Gimenez.
1 min The crowd showcase their ability to count down from 10, before informing us of their favourite colours and preferred shape … then we get going.
“Looking at the referee’s name, surely we need this game to end with refereeing controversy so the ‘Highway Robbery’ headlines can get an airing,” volunteers Shaun Wilkinson.
It’s one of the great contradictory names. Can anyone think of any others?
South Korea’s is also great, slow-build with a chorus to properly get after.
Oh yes, the Uruguay anthem is a banger, and the players, led by Godin, absolutely monster it in the best possible way. They’re in the mood.
In the BBC studio, Ashley Williams says Suárez is the best striker he faced. I can believe that – I’ve not seen many runs of form better than his once he got good, and those who spring to mind as boasting close equivalents are Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo and Thierry Henry.
Here come our teams!
Email! “Come on, these triumphs were 92 and 72 years ago respectively!” says Ben Bernards on Uruguay. “By that logic Preston is still a British heavyweight and my team GAIS here in Sweden remains a big man on campus despite its four Swedish titles coming in 1919, 1922, 1930 and 1954 (in the real world they just got promoted from the third tier back to the second). Uruguay will excel mightily if they get as far as the quarters.”
Disagree, because Uruguay are still good and their pedigree is part of that because it’s part of the footballing culture that helps make them good.
Which is the best national team nickname? Uruguay’s Le Celeste is surely among the top few – though that may be my Anglophonia kicking in, and ascribing to it a celestial quality. Ghana’s Black Stars is also up there, likewise Italy’s Azzurri and Zambia’s Chipolopolo.
FYI
We Will Rock You is playing over the stadium PA, an eclectic, leftfield choice if ever there was one. How do they think of these things?
We’re sharing joy here, so here’s some of mine: I’ve recently discovered brining meat. Water, seasoning (more exciting than salt), onion powder, honey (a sugar replacement), heat, cool, meat in, fridge. Then dip in the sauce you’d previously have used as a marinade, cook and baste, whether on the barbecue, under the grill, in the pot or in the oven.
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My guess is that South Korea will be hoping to outnumber Uruguay in midfield – though I expect Valverde to tuck in. They’ll also, I’m sure, want Son, Uijo and Sangho running in behind Godin and Gimenez.
Embolo was born in Yaoundé; what a moment his goal was.
Looking at the South Korea XI, the presence in it of Son is obviously the big story. Because his injury was facial, he should be able to get going more easily than had it been muscular. I’m also looking forward to seeing how Inbeom gets on – he plays for Olympiakos and at 26, should be hitting this competition at exactly the right time.
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Cameroon will be rueing the chances they missed in the first half of that one. With Serbia then Brazil next, they’re in a lot of trouble.
Here’s one we made earlier:
Who expected Federico Valverde to get this good this fast? Not me, I must confess, but he arrives at this World Cup in frankly revolting form, which I guess is an interesting wrinkle of a mid-season tournament. I also fancy Darwin Nunez to do something here – though his touch and finishing can trend towards the avant-garde, he has the priceless ability to both make things happen and arrive on the scene as they’re happening, so tournament football should suit him. Otherwise, Facundo Pellistri, who’s struggled to get a game at either Man United or Alavés, starts, which makes sense: if you ‘re playing two strikers, you need at least one winger, and he has the ability to go either way.
Tangentially, to continue on an Atléti tip, Álvaro Morata scoring the seventh goal in a 7-0 win is one of my moments of the World Cup so far. I maintain my theory that Diego Simeone only bought him to ensure he maintained a suitable level of incandescence through every training session.
Taking a closer look at the teams, it’s worth noting that Ronaldo Araújo is unavailable for Uruguay. I doubt he’d have played – Godin and Gimenez are too well ensconced and know each other too well – but I’d bet he’s better than at least the former, much as enjoy his old skool, face-first style of defending.
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Update following yesterday’s Yellow Car Dead Arm controversies: Green Car Hair Skriffle has been extremely warmly received by the youngest Harris. I’ve yet to try it on the middle Harris but you’ll be able to tell when I have by my eternal absence from blogs such as this.
Only 15 minutes of telly buildup before this one; pah. How do you squeeze in 42 “from the England camp” and 27 “from the Wales camp” reports into so little time? On which point, including today, we’ve only five quadruple-game Tetris days left. Make the most of them, people.
Teams!
Uruguay (4-4-2): Rochet; Cáceres, Godín, Giménez, Olivera; Valverde, Vecino, Bentancur, Pellistri; Núñez, Suárez. Subs: Muslera, Sosa, Coates, Varela, Viña, Rodríguez, Ugarte, Torreira, Canobbio, De La Cruz, Arrascaeta, Torres, Gómez, Cavani.
South Korea (4-3-3): Kim Seunggyu; Kim Mooonhwan, Kim Minjae, Kim Younggwon, Kim Jinsu; Jung Wooyoung, Hwang Inbeom, Lee Jaesung; Son Heungmin, Hwang Uijo, Na Sangho. Subs: Song Bumkeun, Jo Hyeonwoo, Yoon Jonggyu, Paik Seungho, Cho Guesung, Hwang Heechan, Son Junho, Hong Chul, Lee Kangin, Kwon Kyungwon, Kwon Changhoon, Kim Taehwan, Cho Yumin, Jeong Wooyeong, Song Minkyu.
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
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Preamble
It’d take a particular kind of silliness to term as dark horses a country that has won the World Cup twice, made the last eight, the last 16 and the last four in the previous three tournaments, and been champions of South America 15 times. But Uruguay start this competition as outsiders, despite a pedigree rooted both in history and the contemporary.
Partly, that reflects the difficult of the group they’re in, but even so, the 40-1 at which they were available last evening is unreflective of a squad packed with class and wildness. Boasting José María Giménez at the back, Federico Valverde and Rodrigo Bentancur in midfield, with Darwin Núñez and Luis Suárez up front, Uruguay are absolutely not to be trifled with.
Nor, though are South Korea. Son Heung-min is fit – though perhaps not match fit – while Jeong Woo-Yeong’s Freiburg have made a fine start to the Bundesliga season. That gives them a decent goal-threat while, in midfield and defence, they’ve the solidity and security of players who’ve been together a long time.
Which to say that the Group of Death is go!
Kick-off: 4pm local, 1pm GMT
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