Our players had to deal with the rough play of our opponents throughout the game. The Italians sometimes fouled openly, and the referee’s whistle didn’t blow very often. Of course, refereeing is part of the game, but there were a lot of calls that went against us.
The following report was written by Kim Hyung-yeol.
Against our players, who were exhausted after 120 minutes of hard play in the quarterfinals and only one day of rest, Italy played with a roughness reminiscent of a martial artist.
Clothes grabbing and shoving were the norm, and there were several arm strikes with feet high in the face.
Italy committed 26 fouls, more than twice as many as we did, including the ‘unmannerly’ act of throwing the ball at our player who fell down due to a foul,
[Lee Hwang-jae/SBS commentator: This is not the kind of mess (Italian players) make with their hands and pulling].
The actual fouls were much higher than that.
Referee Perez, an Argentinian national, often turned a blind eye to fouls that were right in front of him.
[Lee Hwang-jae/SBS commentator: If you use an elbow like that and hit your opponent in the face, and you say that referee Perez didn’t see it, this is too much].
Especially in the 18th minute of the second half, when Lee Seung-won was shooting, and Gilardi turned a blind eye to Lee Young-joon pushing him down in the penalty box,
[Lee Jae-hyung/SBS caster: It’s a shame because if Gilardi didn’t push Lee Young-joon, he could have shot on the rebounded ball].
In second-half stoppage time, in a good free-kick position, Papundi pushed Bae Seo-joon openly and no foul was called, which was a “problematic decision” that could have affected the game.메이저놀이터
[Kim Eun-joong/U-20 World Cup Team Manager: I’m a little disappointed with the refereeing, but it’s part of the game, so we have to (accept it), and I want to say that we appreciate that the players did their best].
Even in such bad conditions, our players kept their composure and fought for the victory until the end, and win or lose, the young Taeguk warriors’ efforts were all the more valuable because of that.