Advancing to the round of 16 at the World Cup for the first time in 12 years!
Also, the word 'dramatic' was appropriate.
Winning the third game was dramatic, and waiting for the results of advancing to the round of 16 after the game was even more so.
The people who waited for the results forgot the cold of the harsh winter.
So people say miracles.
However, there are those who do not speak of 'miracle'.
In particular, coach Paulo Bento, who led the team, asserted, "It is never a miracle because we believed in the training process and we believed in ourselves."
The players emphasized that it was not a coincidence or a miracle, saying that they were confident about the training process and tactics they had been doing.
“(Before the World Cup) the players were very confident about the build-up play.”
-Kim Young-kwon, Republic of Korea national football team-
More dramatic was the change of the team.
It was our own way of playing and dominating the game, breaking away from the past pattern of focusing on defense and aiming for counterattacks.
A new word has even been coined for the performance that cannot be achieved without confidence.
So-called 'half break'.
'Middle break', which shortened 'the important thing is an unbreakable mind', became the best buzzword for the winter of 2022.
The pinnacle of the 'half break' was the final match of the preliminary round against Portugal.
With a poor record of 1 draw and 1 loss, we faced the top team in the group, but we won by playing 'our own play'.
Experts say, "It was a World Cup where we dominated the game, owned the ball and led the game no matter which team we faced."
“Since you have completely changed Korean soccer, are you going to bring this changed soccer back or take it to the next level?”
-Kim Dong-wan, soccer commentator-
Now is the time to calmly look back on the achievements of advancing to the round of 16 at the Qatar World Cup and the challenges ahead.
The task expressed in the 'new dream' is even more important.
This is because the choice of whether to inherit or change the game philosophy that coach Bento has adhered to for the past four years lies ahead.
That's why SBS <News Story> put a question mark on 'new dream'.
This week's SBS <News Story> looks back on the glory of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and seeks a new direction for the future of Korean football together with the next World Cup.