Australia v South Korea: Asian Cup quarter-final – live | Asian Cup

68 min Another dangerous cross from Seol (I think) is superbly cut out by at the near post by Souttar. He’s been outstanding, particularly in the second half.

67 min Australia are defending very deep now – I don’t think it’s a deliberate tactic, they’ve just been driven back. There have been a million crosses in the second half.

66 min One thing Australia have done very well, whether by accident or design, is keep Son Heung-min quiet. I’m surprised he hasn’t swapped places with the left-winger Hwang for a while, especially as Hwang looks more natural in a central position or on the right.

64 min “Huge question marks over Jurgen Klinsmann’s set-up here,” writes Chris Paraskevas, idly playing with his font size. “Despite the possession stats, the ‘Roos are winning the key moments in the midfield and moving the ball with purpose when they have it.

“I understand the Koreans are top-heavy in terms of talent but there’s a real lack of structure to their play. Australia by comparison are incredibly well drilled, with every player knowing their role. (For what it’s worth, I think an equaliser is still coming – too many missed chances by the ‘Roos.)

I think that’s a bit harsh – they’ve worked the space well in wide positions, particularly on the left. But I did fail by Patterns of Play degree, so what do I know.

63 min A sharp cutback from the left byline is cleared by Behich with Son waiting behind him. Moments later, Lee’s fierce cross from the left is put behind by the stretching Souttar. Australia’s defence is under increasing pressure.

60 min Korea have come from behind in their last three games, including a 99th-minute tournament saver against Saudi Arabia in the last 16, and they look increasingly menacing. Their tempo has been much better in the second half.

Seol’s deflected shot dips right under the bar and is calmly held by Ryan. Those balls can be very difficult to deal with.

57 min South Korea’s most dangerous attacks have been transitions, another of which eventually leads to a corner. Lee’s inswinger is punched away by Ryan.

56 min “Neither Duke nor Boyle looking likely,” says Matthew Stephens. “I’m pretty sure Arnie will prefer the experience of Bruno over Yengi when it comes time to substitute Duke.”

Especially if you’re still 1-0 up and he wants somebody to hold the ball up and occupy defenders.

54 min: Triple chance for Australia! Oh my word, it should be 2-0 to the Socceroos. Goodwin, on the left, curled a lovely cross to pick out the uinmarked Boyle at the far post. His first header was straight at Jo Hyeon-woo, who could only shovel the ball out in front of goal. Boyle spanked a follow-up that was brilliantly blocked by Jo and then Duke volleyed the rebound over the bar.

The ball came to Duke at an awkward height but it was still a very good chance. So were both of Boyle’s.

52 min The left-back Seol Young-woo has been South Korea’s biggest attacking threat so far. As well as those last two crosses, he was the player who made the disallowed goal for Hwang Hee-chan in the first half.

51 min Vital defending from Behich, who punches the air after booting Seol’s very dangerous cross out of play for a corner. Cho Gue-sung was waiting behind him to score.

48 min South Korea’s first shot on target. The lively left-back Seol gets forward and crosses to the far post, where Lee Kang-in controls the dropping ball before scuffing a shot straight at Ryan. He was under pressure from Behich so it wasn’t a clear chance.

46 min Peeeeeeeeeeeep peeeeeeeeeeep! Australia begin the second half, knowing that another clean sheet would put them through a semi-final against Jordan.

“It’s definitely not Angeball,” says Matt Leonard. “More like -#ArnieSecondBall.”

But it’s working. In a knockout game it’s better to be all cattle and no hat than the other way round.

It’s also quarter-final weekend in the Africa Cup of Nations. Luke McLaughlin is living and breathing Nigeria v Angola… so you don’t have to.

Half-time entertainment

Half time: Australia 1-0 South Korea

45 min Souttar is booked, a little harshly, after winning a header with Cho Gue-sung. He caught him with his arm as he jumped, but at first glance it looked at most a free-kick. He might have been booked for dissent rather than the (perceived) foul. Either way, he’ll miss the semi-final if Australia get there.

44 min The diligent Boyle concedes a corner on the right, Korea’s first of the game. It’s headed away at the near post.

It stemmed from a mistake by Hwang In-boem, whose poor pass on the edge of his own area was intercepted by Goodwin. He was crowded out but Australia worked the ball across the edge of the area, waiting for an opportunity. Eventually Metcalfe played a neat through pass to the overlapping Atkinson, who stood up a first-time cross beyond the far post.

Goodwin backpedalled, waited an age for the ball to drop and then slashed a volley past Jo Hyeon-woo at the near post. That’s a really good finish, not dissimilar to his goal against Indonesisa.

GOAL! Australia 1-0 South Korea (Goodwin 42)

41 min This time it’s Metcalfe who has a pop from distance. It goes high over the bar but, as the Triller TV commentator says, they are getting in some decent positions.

38 min Boyle shoots from 25 yards, and immediately regrets it.

37 min This is an admirable attempt to accentuate the positive in what has been a largely uneventful first half.

35 min Possession percentages: Australia 24-76 South Korea. It’s not Angeball… but Australia are well in the game and have had the only shot on target.

33 min This is a nervous spell for Australia, with Atkinson forced to make a good defensive header at the far post.

32 min: Hwang has a goal disallowed! It was a fine move, which ended with Hwang tapping into an empty net, but the left-back Seol Young-woo was fractionally offside in the build-up.

29 min I’m sure the decision to pick Goodwin ahead of Bos was made partially with set-pieces in mind. He takes Australia’s first corner, which is headed back to him on the left. Then he whips in a much better ball that whooshes across the face goal.

28 min “Perhaps the most familiar-sounding Australian name to fans in Korea is Baccus,” writes Peter Oh, “thanks to the popular energy drink brand Bacchus.”

For a life-affirming split-second I thought that email was going to take a detour to the Kanpur Test match of 1979.

27 min South Korea are starting to have a bit of joy down their left, a concern expressed by Matthew Stephens in the third minute. But Mat Ryan still hasn’t had a save to make, which continues a theme of the whole tournament. Australia’s opponents have had only four attempts on target in six and a half hours of football; it’s probably seven hours if you include added time.

23 min This is startting to come to life – both the quality of attacking play and the burgeoning needle.

21 min: Fine defending from Souttar! The centre-back Kim Young-gwon finds an eye in the Socceroos needle, threading a lovely disguised pass through the inside-left channel to find Hwang in the area. His first touch is slightly heavy, which allows Souttar to come across and make a vital challenge.

19 min: Chance for Metcalfe! Goodwin collects a loose ball just outside the area, shifts the ball onto his left foot and drives a deflected shot across goal. Jo-Hyeon woo dives to his left to push it away and Metcalfe knocks the rebound well wide from about 10 yards. Although it came at him quickly, that was a pretty good opportunity.

19 min “Good morning from gloomy Indianapolis, Rob!” says Joe Pearson. “Having watched both teams progress through the tournament, a Korea win seems the more likely result. They have a little better cutting edge, I think. But what do I know?”

Nothing, same as the rest of us.

17 min Metcalfe receives a square pass 25 yards from goal to the right of centre. His first touch is lovely but he drags a low shot wide of the near post with his second.

16 min Irvine catches Hwang In-beom with a high boot and then gives him a mouthful while he’s on the floor. That leads to a brief exchange of views with a mildly aghast Son Heung-min before the referee tells everyone to disperse.

Australia have had only 20 per cent possession so far.

15 min The Bayern Munich centre-back Kim Min-jae takes matters into his own hands with a barnstorming run down the right. His cross is too close to Ryan.

13 min Baccus gets a warning after flooring Hwang. I like this referee, who seemst to have a natural, relaxed authority.

12 min Australia haven’t yet offered anything in attack as yet. Jackson Irvine is playing deeper than he did in the first four games, so their formation is closer to 4-2-3-1 than 4-1-4-1.

9 min Korea are dominating the ball, which is a reversal of Australia’s first four games. They’re yet to create anything, though. This already feels like a game that could go the distance.

7 min “I’m in the US, so I watched the USA v Sweden women’s World Cup match at 2am my time,” writes Harriet Osborn. “I’d done the same thing to watch our awful draw with Portugal as well (that was boring enough I went back to bed right after!) The RO16 match was fun and exciting – it was the best the team had played the entire tournament, and my hope built through the match that we really were going to beat them this time. (Oh, right, the last time the USA women played Sweden, we lost 3-0 at the Tokyo Olympics, which I had also woken up at a horrible hour to watch!)

“It went to extra time and penalties of course, and I had entirely too much adrenaline and anger by the end to go back to sleep. Made for a rotten day after so thank goodness I was off work. Never would have thought at the start of the tournament that a RO16 match against our bogey team would merit writing in about as being “a huge match” watched in the small hours…

“What a privilege it is that US-based fans have to do this so rarely. And we complain about Premier League matches kicking off at 6:30am.”

5 min Son breaks at a backpedalling Australian defence and plays a good pass out to Hwang on the left. His low cross is booted away. It’s vital that Baccus doesn’t allow Son to find space between the lines like that.

4 min Nothing to report yet. Jurgen Klinsmann is patrolling the touchline in a black hoodie. I miss 2006.

3 min “Atkinson is a real concern defensively against the pace of South Korea,” says Matthew Stephens. “Expecting a lot of their attack to go down that side.”

2 min As expected, South Korea have reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation.

1 min Peep peep! Korea kick off from right to left as we watch.

A reminder of the teams

Australia (4-1-4-1) Ryan; Atkinson, Souttar, Rowles, Behich; Baccus, Irvine; Boyle, Metcalfe, Goodwin; Duke.
Substitutes: Bos, Silvera, Fornaroli, Yengi, Tilio, Thomas, O’Neill, McGree, Gauci, Miller, Burgess, Yazbek.

South Korea (possible 4-2-3-1) Jo Hyeon-woo; Kim Tae-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Young-gwon, Seol Young-woo; Park Yong-woo, Hwang In-beom; Lee Kang-in, Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan; Cho Gue-sung.
Substitutes: Lee Ki-je, Kim Jin-su, Hong Hyun-seok, Lee Jae-sung, Song Bum-keun, Lee Soon-min, Jeong Seung-hyeon, Park Jin-seop, Jeong Woo-yeong, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Kim Ji-soo, Yang Hyun-jun.

Referee Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman).

“G’day Rob,” writes Chris Paraskevas, whose love of the Socceroos and Newcastle United isn’t conducive to consistent sleep patterns. “A criminal 2.30am kick off this morning, and at such uncivilised hours one can only but think of how massive this game is to ‘Arnie’s legacy: this is literally the equivalent fixture (sort of) in which Ange Postecoglou wrote his own Subway Socceroos Legacy.

“And you know what? It’s got nothing to do with the result. Nothing to do with the performance. Nothing to do with whether that good ‘ol Aussie Fight™️ is on show.

“Legacies are all about one thing: whether your career produced a piece of Youtube High Art for generations to repeatedly digest. For Ange, we have the quintessential ‘Ange vs Craig’ video: a national cultural and sporting touchstone.

“Arnie’s equivalent? The underrated and underwatched ‘Arnie v Peacock’.”

Here come the players, all looking very business-like. For the first time in Australia’s tournament, this has the feel of a proper game.

“Hoping for a bit of quality from the Roos tonight,” writes Martin Turnbull. “A one-goal win for Oz, in normal time.”

What’s it like watching such a huge game in the small hours? The closest experience I’ve had watching the 2018 World Cup semi-final between Croatia and England at 2am in Perth, though I’ve never been that patriotic so it wasn’t the be-all and end-all.

This time, more than any other time…

Team news: Goodwin in for Bos

Preamble