Former South Korea forward Ahn Jung-hwan, who broke Italy’s hearts with his goal at the 2002 World Cup, said his side deserved the victory.
On the 20th anniversary of the Asian side’s famous 2-1 golden-goal victory over the Azzurri, Ahn revisited the famous match which saw the hosts qualify for the World Cup quarter-finals.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, he said: “I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a really special match for me and my country.
“No one believed we could beat Italy. After all this time, the refereeing decisions are still discussed.
“I think you just need to look at our preparation, the way we played. [Manager Guus] Hiddink made us a strong team physically and psychologically. We weren’t scared of anyone.”
One of the biggest talking points of that June 18, 2002 clash was the performance of the Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno who awarded South Korea a first-half penalty, disallowed what would have been a golden goal by Damiano Tommasi for a controversial offside and awarded Francesco Totti a second yellow card for diving when he was 40 yards away from the incident.
The decisions turned Moreno into a hate figure in Italy. Asked about the official, Ahn added: “We have always respected the referee’s decision, that final and irreversible.
“Independent of the fact Moreno may have made some mistakes, without VAR every time the whistle is blown it’s a problem.
“We accepted everything, even if at times the result was painful. The truth is we prepared well for the Italy match. We analysed every detail of every Italy player.”
Joint-hosts South Korea reached the semi-finals where they were eventually beaten by runners-up Germany and Ahn suggests his side fully deserved their win over the Azzurri.
He said: “Just look at my country’s results in the friendlies leading up to the 2002 World Cup. We lost just two out of eight matches against Uruguay and France.
“Then the great work done by Hiddink who made us different players. We felt like we could be the tournament’s great surprise.”
Intervista ad Ahn, 20 anni dopo quel dannato gol: "Italia perdonami, ma la mia Corea meritava di vincere" #ItaliaCorea #Mondiali2002 https://t.co/SEbnNoi6jj
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) June 18, 2022
go to hell
That game opened a lot of people’s eyes to what FIFA are like, the start of many scandals that have left fans very cynical of what the see happening.
I shall never forget that game and how it was corrupt.How many Italian players were injured by the south koreans
I’ll never forget that match.How can they possibly say that Moreno was not bought?Isn’t he the same person that got jailed for drug smuggling?
South Korea did the same against Spain.
Just shut up. You didn’t deserve anything.
Disgusting human being if you think you deserved that corruption at the expense of other nations like Italy and Spain.
Like that drug smuggling, scumbag of a referee who was trying to justify himself the other day. People should be arrested and brought to justice for what happened in that tournament.
Gazetta is an idiot for even seeking this guy out and giving him a voice.
So many Italians and non-Italians crying about a match that occurred 2 decades ago.
Go watch full match again and see how many chances Italy had to end the game in 90 mins. Poor finishing is all on them, not anyone else.
This is why we, Germans, are better than you. Hell, even the French are better.
I lost my love for football for a couple of years because of that match, I still don’t have the same love for it as before and anytime that game gets brought up I still feel the same anger.
@Milan Fan yeh I don’t get why they’ve interviewed him either, on second thoughts they just want to sell papers. Pathetic
Lol Totti was dancing around your whole team. You weren’t even allowed to play in Perugia anymore. Totti & Vieri was too much for you and if you weren’t hosts, you would of been gone a lot sooner. That Italy team was going to win it all but a stupid ref ruined the beautiful game
Football Italia, why are you trying to troll and insult your own readers with this garbage? Someone needs to find another job.
Just his face makes me feel sick.
The melancholy truth is he is very right, they deserved to win that match, forget about all the decisions, the Italians came into the match with a very negative defensive and hostile attitude, their interpretation of the match was, South Korea where the home team, and honestly played better than Italy up to that point of the Match, the Italians who were better and more experienced professionals should have taken that attitude to them, and should have played a positive game, instead they played defensively and complained about everything, and wasted precious time, but they were afraid of the Koreans game play, home support and momentum, and that was what framed their minds, even if an official and organisation is out to rob u, if you play well and attack your opponents, robbing you won’t be easy, but instead the Azzuri played negatively and defensively, even the line up was not even an attacking one, so let’s give credit were it’s due, the Koreans won two more matches and even reach the semi’s…
Go to hell Ahn. The refs were paid off, given cars, you kicked the Italians all over the place. Should have had 5 players off
Whatever helps him sleep at night…
Not only Italy got screwed but so did Spain, so corrupt. That tournament was the most obviously fixed ever
Thanks for bringing it up, now I am pissed all over again
Francesco coco , man that fella took the ball forward in a devastating manner against the opposition
This World Cup could of have an epic show down between Italy and Brazil
It was a script pre written
As for the player never really had the chance after as was plagued with injuries
I’LL NEVER FORGET THAT MATCH.
THEY INJURED ZAMBROTTA FOR MONTHS AND IT’S NOT EVEN A FOUL. IT’S A THROW IN.
AND THAT INCIDENT WAS JUST A SIDE NOTE.
ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPTED REFS IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL
The strangest thing about the match was that at some point the Koreans seemed to know they couldn’t get sent off. The tackle on Zambrotta by Ahn was crazy. And the kick to the back of Maldini’s head while he lay on the floor…
The stats for the S Korean matches against Portugal, Italy and Spain are odd. S Korea commit many more fouls in each game and get more yellow cards, but it’s the other teams who get red cards and penalties against them. The trend ended in the game against Germany that S Korea lost. A crazy World Cup.
Thats right you backward Italy fans keep up with your dog whistle racism. The outrage that an Asian man scored against a country who boos minority players, throws banana peel on the pitch and much more. Ask Balotelli, Prince Boateng and others. Third world country, crumbling infrastructure, economy that has never grown in 20 years and living in the past. South Korea puts Europe to shame in terms of their development. Corruption or not Italy should have found the net in 120 mins.
Lars – remember the banners hung up by the S Korean fans for the match against Germany? We liberals need to stop our soft racism of sentimentalising non-western countries.
The accusation isn’t against S Korea it’s against FIFA
Bastien
You’ll never be better than us it’s been proven in every meaningful match we’ve played each other
@Bastian
don´t cry about games from decades ago, mainly because you were at the receiving and of favours. That is how you beat hungary in 1954 and the Netherlands in 1974. Let alone 1990.
Lars, sounds like you’re the racist with your comments about Italy, I don’t know where you live but if it’s in a village you had better get back quick because they are definitely missing an idiot
@ Lars Anderssen – I agreed with you the Italian are so backward, I just cant think of what brought you to their site though. any interest ?
@Bastian…
1. Italy, in fact, did put the game away with Tommasi’s goal. The fact that idiot Moreno a
Adjudicated it offsides was 1 of multiple examples of poor and corrupted officiating.
2. Want to talk about questionable officiating just go back and look at the Italia 1990 final.
3. Want to talk about corruption…Germany got what it deserved for the match fixing in their group stage with Austria during the 1982 World Cup group stage.
4. Germany receives many more favorable calls as a matter of fact
@Lars Anderssen…
1. Italy is still a G-7 country
2. Sweden?
3. You and your ilk are racist as well. I know, I experienced the Northern European hospitality. The difference remains that a % of Otalisns remain publicly vocal about it rather than disguising it publicly like the Northern countries do.
4. Reverse racism exists as well. Not discussed much because it does not fit your hypocritical narrative.
5. Yes, Italy did, in fact, score within 120 minutes. The corrupt Moreno disallowed a perfectly valid Tommasi goal for Italy.
@JT – What did the banners say?
@Bastian – You did not mention that West Germany won the ’54 World Cup having taken drugs! If you were a regular reader of World Soccer you would’ve seen the article!
There really aren’t any words for these idiots who think that the match was a fair result.
FIFA decided to put an unknown for such an important game so as he could please his employers!
To all the losers: Just Get Over It! You Lost! Have SOME LIFE!
@Matt – We do have a life, we watch Italy win loads of tournaments! LOL!
Come on you fools. Stop getting suckered in by trolls like Usman Yusuf, Matt and Lars.
The truth: Korea won only because of the shady refereeing decisions. Anyone who thinks otherwise either didn’t watch the game, is a troll or just plain dumb.
More truths: having said all that, Trappatoni’s approach was overly defensive especially with all that attacking talent available. Why?! Italy left themselves exposed to poor decisions by not attacking and killing off the game.
The Korean team was definitely well prepared and Hiddink is a good coach, but they definitely had help. Help from the Moreno’s terrible decisions, but first and foremost, Italy themselves not closing out this game early on. This game should have been a cakewalk.
If you think Trap was defensive, just imagine what the team would have been like with Phd Max in charge. Totti would have been a sweeper and Vieri a DM. CALMA, CALMAAAAAA!
The only time we should hear Obi Wan Max yelling CALMAAAA is when he’s telling me to slow down or I’ll come too fast.
You do realise Italy beat Ecuador 2-0 in the group stage game and of course the referee Ecuadorian Byron Moreno is from Ecuador, Italy knocked them out of the World Cup. So yes he would seek revenge against Italy, FIFA should make sure referees from countries already played are not allowed to manage matches from opponents that just beat their team country. This happens to Italy a lot where football teams and reffs are from previous meetings making things compromised and awkward so the decisions are not always equal but bias. No one is crying over this match, it’s just that the subject has been brought up again and the opinion about it is as deluded as the game itself. If people remember it then rightly so if history is being covered up by it. I think if Italy reached the final then Brazil were going to be better anyway with the team they had, but it could have been revenge for Italy against Brazil had they won even on penalties, but we will never know. 2006 made up for Italia 90, 94, 98, Euro200 and 2002, so in a way Italy still have 4 more finals to win to set the score even.
OK. How about this??
Korea and Italy should play against each other in this Qatar World Cup. Which group does Italy belong to?
The fact that Spain got robbed the game after is clear that refs completely got them to semi to promote game in Asia . No way they make semi before an African team without help if corrupt fifa
it’s fifa’s corrupt system, it’s all about money. for fifa korea’s progress much more profitable than italy! fifa got really corrupted since WC 1998. because the beautiful game turned ugly! 2002 was the first WC in Asian soil, so fifa did its best to secure as much money as possible thru tv rights & keep them fans in korea as much as possible. Japan side was neater & prettier, Japan is a one beautiful country, South Korea is a very corrupt country.
@srna that’s the difference between our countries. If we were at this World Cup, we would expect to win it, you are there to make up numbers and will be forgotten by the round of 16.
Va caga, va.
-Tackle on Zambrotta should have been a Red. He missed the next 6 Months.
– Fouls on Francesco Coco, Del Piero, Maldini not whsitled.
– Damiano Tommasi scored what should have been the Golden Goal.
– BS PK awarded (Buffon Saved it).
Vieri broke the nose of the Korean defense with his elbow, and Totti almost did. In the end, South Korea was injured and even had to leave the pitch. Italy should be grateful for not being sent off in the first half. Do you still have any complaints? If then, just blame Vieri for missing an easy chance just before the end of the game or Totti for his stupid dive
This guy is clearly a goof. I hate being a sore loser but it was clear that there was something wrong with the officiating.
@City…
1. Did you watch when Totti was hacked first in the box?
2. What about the 3 elbows that Korea planted on Italy without much more than 1 yellow?
3. Tommasi’s goal was incorrectly ruled offsides.
4. Or are you just another troll?
@virrorio
1. Do you think he wasn’t dive? Korean defender touched the ball and totti fell down himself.
2. Italy players used elbow first. Viery, totti, etc. Korean defendre’s nose was broken at 7 minutes.
3. Can you sure that wasn’t offside? It can be controversial, but no one can convince.
4. You guys who curse innocent players are troll. All italians are like this? And do you forget 1986 world cup? We call that stupid referee’s fault.
Lastly do you know coco had to be sent off? But the referee didn’t gave him yellow card. Instead he gave it to zanetti. I agree if you say the referees were incompetent. However if you say korea was dirty and Italy was just victim, i don’t agree.
Biggest fix in history that ref was so corrupt unreal horrible man
In hindsight Italy had a clear cut chance to score however with an open goal, Vieri skyed his shot. In hindsight Totti was twice cancelled out of a major tournament and dare I say Totti was so good I suspect people in high places were scared he could ruin their preferred outcomes.
@City…
1. The Koreans benefitted from generous officiating.
2. Yes, the Italians threw some elbows and there were fouls.
3. The Koreans started with some physical tactics after the 1st 5 minutes to determine what level of play the referee would allow. Louis Van Gaal is known for testing the officiating early on.
4. The penalty awarded to Korea within the 1st 7 minutes of play was similar to the play for which Totti was fouled.
5. “The Korean defender touched the ball first.” Go back and look at the replay closely. It was 50/50 at best. The defender had his hand on Totti’s shoulder as Totti was brought down.
6. Coco was elbowed by our own defender. Ho back and look at the replay. Your comment makes no sense. I never stated that a Korean player should have been given red for Coco’s injury. It was incidental.
7. Korea should have received at least two more yellow cards in the second half.
8. FifA had a financial interest to see S. Korea advance because of TV revenue.
9. Moreno had an incentive to punish Italy for beating Ecuador 2-0 in the group stage. He is Ecuadoran.
Facts.
The bottom line is Italy should of bagged the game in 90i mins. Once you see the ref is being bias against you you have to be professional and not get involved. Korea had help from officials no way were they good enough to bt bot Italy and Spain and reach the semi. FIFA fixed this to both theirs and Korea advantage ….had Japan bt Turkey earlier non of this would of happened.
I wish people would stop writing as if they are texting!
And it is NEVER ‘should of.’ That is grammatically incorrect!
lol@Jung-hwan “South Korea deserved win”. Is this clown for real? That made me laugh.
We all saw what happened. Rumors were that a Korean sponser paid off the ref. Who knows if that was true? But a lot of the games involving South Korea were filled with “poor” decisions. Now, there is VAR. Thanks to controversial games like the ones we saw involving South Korea.
Since 2002, some avoid buying Korean stuff. I will never buy Korean. No Hyundai, Kia car. No LG, Samsung phone or computer. Or whatever else they make. Anyways, Japanese cars are better. 🙂
Bastian, You German’s are better in what?
Italians made you cry so many times both in the World Cup and in the Euros. Did you forget 1982? 3-1 and have no time to count them all but let me remind you also of the modern history, when we knocked you out of the World Cup semi final in 2006 on your own pitch 0-2 and you were crying like a baby. What an ignorant person. I am not surprised you are defending a scandal and a corruption.
Bastian you started you first comments so well. I agree We had so manay chances to finish the game but didnt, absolutely agree.
But then you sit on here and then claim that Gemany is better Italy, hahahahaha we have dealt you more pain than any other nation.
Not only did we knock you out of your own world cup, we made you look like the visiting team in the process BUT to go in and win the whole tournament was so so sweet, made even better now you are on here making such ludicrous claims.
To Bastian, when Germany beat Italy in world Cup or euro game then you can talk about Germany better than Italy, until it happens Italy is better. Germany has never beat italy in major tournament. Remember 1970 in Mexico, 1982 in Spain 2012 in Poland and of course 2006 in your own Germany in a stadium where Germany had never lost a game.
Azzurri CDN,
Damn, I thought I was the only one. That Korean grudge was carried for years until I switched to Samsung smartphones a few years ago.
You hold a good grudge, man.
And YES, Bobo Vieri missed a glorious chance at the death in Regulation.
Would have bagged the match and save us the heartache. But it does not change the fact that the match was not officiated correctly.
I think Gattuso missed a chance as well.
What also hurt us was the makeshift Defence we had to use. Nesta got hurt and Cannavaro was out for Card Accumulation. We went with: Coco, Maldini, Iuliano Panucci.
Coco was fine at LB, but i don’t like how Maldini looked on Ahn’s goal. Nesta/Cannavaro would have been an upgrade.
Another thing, i have to take issue with Trap not using his 3rd Sub.
Look how tired Vieri looked as the match wore on. No wonder he flubbed his chance. Montella or Pippo would have scored that.
FI,
Seriously sort yourselves out.
Once again I had to break my message up so it gets posted. Turns out the censored word was “g#ssed”. I had to substitute it with “tired” so my message would post.
You are worse than Byron Moreno.
Hello Football Italia. Suggestion instead of covering stupid and outdated “news” like this why don’t you cover the ongoing euro u-19 or serie B news….
Well said Geo, I totally agree! A permanent page that features Italian youth would also be a good idea
Brandon, by buying a Samsung product, you are just funding a corrupt company from a corrupt nation. 🙂
Read what Ahn Jung-hwan said “South Korea deserved win, respect referee’s decision”. How can I respect this guy and this country?
After what happened in 2002, people (in Spain, Portugal and Italy) should have boycotted Korean sponsors. Companies like Samsung should have been singled out, just like the West is singling out China’s Hauwei today for what they’ve been doing. That’s one way to curb corruption & unethical behavior.
And this story is important. South Korea is in a group with Portugal. 2002 will come up.
And Apple/ USA is ethical?
I watched one of the many Steve Jobs doc’s after he died. Swore I would never buy an iPhone.
lol Brandon. Apple/the U.S. didn’t screw over the Azzurri.