Anchor: The South Korean men’s Olympic football team thrashed Fiji 8-0 in their first Group C match on Friday at the Rio Summer Olympics.
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Fiji, who lost their opener 8-0 to South Korea, seem like nearly the flawless side to play when the balance of the group is on the line. Twice Raul Gutierrez’s side took the lead in a pulsating second half, first through the match victor in the 2012 final, Oribe Peralta and then rising star Rodolfo Pizarro.
Ryu Seung-Woo’s first goal of the match in the 30th minute gave South Korea a 1-0 lead, and they had the opportunity to expand that margin eight minutes later.
Here is what to watch for in Mexico’s second game of the 2016 Rio Olympics. South Korea will next face Germany on Sunday at the same pitch before closing up the group play on Wednesday against reigning Olympic football champions Mexico in Brasilia.
South Korea are in their eighth consecutive Olympics and are gunning for their second straight medal, after earning bronze in London four years ago.
South Korea then went through a cold spell, their possession not leading to any risky opportunity. As evidenced in years past, South Korea is always a hard opponent for Mexico. A foul committed in the box gave South Korea a penalty, but Moon Chang-Jin’s left-footed shot hit off the post. The rebound went right to Ryu, who fired it well wide of the net.
The half ended with South Korea leading Fiji 1-0 and maybe Fiji would have something for South Korea in the second half. The Taegeuk Warriors scored three goals, two of them by Kwon Changhoon, in the span of three minutes midway through the half, and Fiji’s defense completely fell apart.
Kwon converted a fine feed from Moon for his first of the night in the 62nd.
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Veteran striker Oribe Peralta of Club America expectedly broke the deadlock seven minutes after the restart as he directed an assist from midfielder Michael Perez past the outstretched arms of German keeper Timo Horn.
