South Korea vs Portugal summary: Korea into last 16 after late Hwang goal, score, goals, highlights 2-1 | World Cup 2022

An attempt at a World Cup summary so far…

So far we’ve had pretty much the most mental end to a group phase that I can remember, although my head is so frazzled from it all that that’s probably not quite the achievement. 

Groups A and B breezed by without a fuss, England (no flag) and the USA  went through, as did Netherlands  and Senegal  ​​​​​. It all seemed like we were laid on a calm beach, with not a cloud in the sky. 

Then came the crazy. 

Saudi Arabia played Mexico   ​​​​​​  ​​​​, and Poland faced Argentina ​​​​     in what turned out to be millions of people screaming for Polish yellow cards so we could have the unimaginable excitement of ‘drawing lots’, something so simple but at the same time, incredibly fun and mysterious.

And then it just got a whole lot more… everything.

Germany looked to be swiping Costa Rica aside    like a lion brushes off a daring mouse from his mane, but the Central American side bit back, scoring in unbelievable fashion – at the same time Japan went ahead against Spain!    ​​​​​​In the end, the Germans won but did not go through, thanks to Asian heroics, but my, oh my, what football we saw. 

You have all the links above to all the minute-by-minutes if you would like to re-read our madness at AS.