Luis Romo punished a critical 50th-minute error by goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu, and co-host Mexico’s historical dominance of South Korea at the World Cup continued with a 1-0 victory in Zapopan, Mexico, on Thursday to win Group A.
Raul Rangel made a spectacular late double-save to keep Mexico’s second clean sheet and secure the top group spot, one that guarantees Mexico will play a round-of-32 match and a potential round-of-16 fixture in Mexico City.
Both heroes for Mexico (2-0-0, 6 points) were starring in the venue where they play their club football for CD Guadalajara. Their actions sealed El Tri’s third World Cup victory in as many appearances against South Korea.
South Korea (1-1-0, 3 points) still would finish second in the group with a win in their finale against South Africa (0-1-1, 1 point), regardless of how Mexico performs against Czech Republic (0-1-1, 1 point).
South Korea all-time caps leader Son Heung-min didn’t go the whole 90 minutes for a second consecutive match, with the attacker departing before the hour mark.
Romo’s finish — only his fourth international goal — could not have been simpler after Seung-gyu crashed into a teammate while trying to make a catch and spilled the ball near the penalty spot.
Romo connected on the first bounce, stabbing it with his right foot into an open goal to send a crowd into delight after the fans had been critical of their side not long before.
Seung-gyu made some measure of amends, denying Raul Jimenez with a strong stop in the 75th minute at the near post and making a sprawling denial of Obed Vargas in the 85th.
Shortly after, the rarely tested Rangel was forced into an exceptional sequence, first denying Cho Gue-sung’s header at the back post and then maintaining his position just long enough to deny Yang Hyun-jun’s second effort.
It was a late outburst during a match that took time to get going.
Mexico’s Julian Quinones had the only effort on target before the half, with Seung-gyu denying his glancing header in the 20th minute.
By halftime, the home crowd had tired of Mexico’s passiveness and booed the co-hosts off the pitch.
–Field Level Media
