The Taegeuk Warriors make another late comeback, beating the Socceroos and keeping their Asian Cup title hopes alive.

Al Wakrah, Qatar – South Korea has made a habit of waiting until injury time to stage a comeback in its knockout games and advance to the next round AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar.

They pulled off another heist to break Australian hearts and to stunning effect 2-1 comeback win in the quarterfinals Al Janoub Stadium Friday night.

This prompted Jürgen Klinsmann, the Koreans’ German coach, to joke that perhaps his team should start all games with a 0-1 scoreline.

“It’s not great to wait 120 minutes for a result. So maybe we can get a goal if we are behind at the start [a win] “earlier,” Klinsmann told amused reporters after the game.

It took South Korea 96 minutes to find a goal – scored by Hee-Chan Hwang from the penalty spot – that kept them alive in the tournament, and another 15 to give their talismanic captain Heung-Min Son a chance to score a brilliant one To score the winning goal and stun Australia.

The Socceroos took the lead in the 42nd minute when Craig Goodwin caught a loose ball in front of the Korean goal, breaking the deadlock in a tight first half.

Once in the lead, the Australians put in a strong defensive performance to keep the Taegeuk Warriors at bay well into the second half.

As the night wore on, the temperature in Al Wakrah dropped to a cool 14 degrees Celsius, but the action on the pitch heated up as South Korea began to attack the Australian goal. It was similar to theirs later attack on Saudi Arabia That eventually brought the equalizer and gave them victory in the penalty shootout.

This time the penalty came in the sixth minute of stoppage time and brought the equalizer. In extra time, the Koreans controlled the game and Australia could barely keep up.

When South Korea won a free kick on the edge of Australia’s penalty area in the 103rd minute, Son directed it into the corner, completing another stunning comeback.

The crowd, which had been chanting his name all night, burst into wild cheers of relief, joy and disbelief.

Many of those fans arrived in Doha after a 10-hour overnight flight from Seoul and said it was too much for a second straight game.

“She [the team] I have to stop doing this to us now,” Kim Hyeseong, a South Korean fan, told Al Jazeera shortly after the win.

“They perform miracles because they never give up,” he said.

Klinsmann said he was aware of the expectations that fans in the stadium and at home have of his team.

“Sometimes the pressure blocks the players [mentally] at the beginning – but when things go downhill, we know that from then on it only goes forward,” said the former world champion.

For fans like Leo Chan, it’s more about belief in the team. But he said they say they are making things difficult for themselves and their supporters.

“Just before the penalty was awarded I wanted to leave the stadium but now I’m staying until the final because these players will do miracles and win it [the championship].”