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.”