Zeros in a quick way – Newspaper Kommersant No. 219 (7420) dated 11/25/2022

In the first match of the World Cup in group H, the Uruguay team did not come up with anything to surprise the frisky Koreans. And the frisky Koreans did not come up with anything that could surprise the Uruguayans, who, it seems, were not too willing to take risks. It turned out too logical goalless draw.

Many of those who watched the match between Uruguay and South Korea, probably after watching it for a quarter of an hour, wanted to shout to the players participating in the game: “Guys, stop for a second!” When the game is played at the highest speed, when it is similar to ping-pong in the sense that the ball does not linger in the middle of the field, all the time jumping from one side of it to the opposite, this is basically not bad. But only if the speed is seasoned with fantasy and prudence. And there were a minimum of them in the football that the rivals chose.

In the case of the Koreans, this could not be surprising. A strategy in which everything is put on pace, and a little more on the skill of Son Heung-Min, who terrifies the goalkeepers of the English Premier League, is their natural, or something, element. Well, they don’t know what a pause for reflection is. All the time you need to run somewhere, preferably forward, even if the opponents have the ball. Their strength is in motion. Yes, maybe only in motion.

But from the Uruguayans, the current Uruguayans – with Diego Godin and Luis Suarez, who have grown old and spat at the end of their careers on club ambitions, with Edinson Cavani, who no longer falls into the base – one should have expected something different, more subtle.

Wisdom seemed to be the trump card of this team. But no, the Uruguayans resolutely picked up the glove thrown by the Koreans.

But as soon as they took a micro-pause in the middle of the first half, not an imaginary, but a very real danger at the opponent’s goal ripened. Federico Valverde, moving to the center of the penalty area, showed off the technique of receiving a difficult throw and struck a second touch just above the crossbar.

And the Koreans, of course, were not going to take breaks, even if Son Heung Min, who had recently received a terrible injury, had been recovering for a long time and played in a protective mask on his injured face, did not seem to have gained his tone yet. Some statistical resources have the function of determining the “average” position of the player, that is, roughly speaking, the point where he was most often during the match. At Son Heung Min, it was located near the left curb before the break. But the thing is that it is not opposite the Uruguayan penalty area, but near the center line.

So, despite this, the South Korean team stubbornly bent its simple line and suddenly crept up to the goal literally close.

A completely free Hwang Eui Jo shot from about the penalty mark to kill, but raised the ball too high.

Before going to rest, the Uruguayans managed to answer this blow of his with their own, even a little more terrible. Valverde took a corner, and Diego Godin, flying as high as in his younger years, outweighed the guardian in the air and sent the ball to the post with his head.

And the rest did not fundamentally correct anything. The South Korean national team, as if only people with rich experience in marathon races were invited to it, did not slow down, but at the same time they could not find someone who could not only rush from the penalty area to the penalty area in five seconds, but also give a good pass or shoot accurately . And the Uruguay national team, as a rule, confidently coping with these attacks, could not find the player in front who would have figured out how to shock the Korean defense with something extraordinary. Darwin Nunez, who was modest at first in the company of veterans hung with awards, however, gradually grew bolder, but not so much that his rivals felt uncomfortable.

In the midst of the second half, desperate, apparently already waiting for something really interesting in the performance of their team, the Uruguayan sectors at the Education City stadium got excited, seeing how exhausted by the races Suarez gave way to his friend Cavani, and, presumably, hoping that this move something will change, something will improve. But no, nothing has changed and nothing has been improved. The only Uruguayan chance on the flag was built by Valverde, who hit the post from a distance.

High speed in the match was preserved until the final whistle. Like the zeros on the scoreboard.

Alexey Dospekhov