They suddenly beat CR7’s Portugal to get through the narrow door and be present in the round of 16 of the best teams at the biggest football festival on the planet.
In the first time the World Cup was held in winter and also in a Gulf country, the audience watching the ball was witnessing too many “seismic”. Surprising one after another and the latest is the case of the Korean national team that has done something few people dare to think of: Going upstream against the former European king Portugal to continue to the 1/8 round. Specifically, before the final series of the group stage at the 2022 World Cup Final Round, Korea suffered from the bottom of Group H after two disappointing results – drawing with Uruguay 0-0 and losing to Ghana 2-3 respectively. Having only one point after the match forced Korea to win against Portugal – which had already secured a place to continue – and hope Uruguay did not beat Ghana.
Before Portugal was mentally relaxed and launched a sub-team, Korea soon received the opener in the fifth minute thanks to the reserve midfielder Horta. But somehow, the kimchi team found Kim Young-gwon’s equalizer in the 27th minute. In related developments, Uruguay soon set an overwhelming position against Ghana by leading to two goals. after the first half. When many people had given up hope, Son Heung-min had an assist like placing Hwang Hee-chan to score in the 90+1 minute. The three points earned Korea won second place in the group and eliminated Uruguay from the game. This was the second time in the history of the World Cup finals that Korea defeated Portugal after the group stage in 2002 was held at home.
Deft celebrates with home country on personal page
This feat helped Korea get through the group stage for the third time after 11 times attending the World Cup finals. Immediately after the match, the players had a meaningful celebration by writing down the inspirational quote that helped them fight until the last moment without giving up. “중요한 ” (roughly translated as “It is important that the heart is strong / the spirit does not give up) – is what they wrote on the national flag in front of the cameras of the media present on Education City Stadium, Qatar. Almost immediately, fans recognized this as the saying of Deft – the captain of DRX who just won the League of Legends World Championship.
Deft said this sentence to encourage his teammates and juniors after DRX lost to European champion Rogue in the opening match of the 2022 World Finals. At that time, the captain of DRX affirmed determined that this was not the end and that his team would not fall apart and still make it through to the Group Stage. Having said that, DRX won the remaining 5/6 matches and monopolized the first place in Group C above Rogue and eliminated the Chinese runner-up Top Esports and the Vietnamese champion GAM Esports. Their magical journey did not stop there because DRX defeated the world champion EDward Gaming, the Korean king Gen.G and the greatest team in T1 history, respectively, to reach the top of the world for the first time.
It must be emphasized that even the most optimistic fans of DRX did not believe in this result because they almost missed the play-off round of the LCK Summer 2022. But the spirit of overcoming difficulties was demonstrated by Deft and his teammates. now makes them the first LoL team in history to win Worlds after coming from the Play-In Round. Deft has repeated this statement many times in post-match interviews throughout Worlds 2022 and has been mentioned many times by reporters around the world in media products. Resonating with the unexpected success of DRX in particular and the influence of esports in Korea, the saying associated with Deft has gone far beyond the framework of the League of Legends community to be widely spread on the national news. family, many traditional sports, KPop, …
Even Son Heung-min – the number one soccer star and captain of the Korean national team at the 2022 World Cup – also used this saying to introduce himself to the public watching television. Globalization and the flat world are blurring the lines between traditional sports and e-sports and proving just how powerful the influence of esports can be!