AL RAYYAN (Qatar): South Korea's players formed a circle in the center of the field and trained their eyes on a cell phone showing a nearby match that would decide their future at the World Cup.
The South Koreans had done their job, beating Portugal 2-1 on a stoppage-time goal.
Now came an agonizing wait. They just needed Uruguay to not score a goal against Ghana in the other group match that still had at least six minutes to play. Some South Korea fans prayed. Others were crying, just like captain Son Heung-min in the players' huddle. They could soon celebrate.
South Korea advanced to the round of 16 on the tiebreaker of goals scored, pushing Uruguay into third place in a wild finish to Group H on Friday. Both teams finished with four points and both had a goal difference of zero, but the Asian team scored four goals compared to Uruguay's two.
When the Uruguay-Ghana game finished 2-0 and South Korea was sure of its second-place finish, the players on the field erupted in joy and squirted water in the air.
Then they got in a line and sprinted toward their fans behind one of the goals at Education City Stadium before
performing a dive in front of them.
South Korea was even at 1-1 and heading out of the tournament when a Portugal corner got cleared and Son led a length-of-the-field breakaway in the first minute of added time. He got crowded out by Portugal's retreating defenders but had the presence of mind to slip a pass through an opponent's legs and into the path of Hwang Hee-chan, who converted a low finish past goalkeeper Diogo Costa.