South Korea cried happy tears, Suarez cried sad tears, and the World Cup group stage got even wilder

Uruguay decided to park the bus late in its final match of group play against Ghana. Uruguay knew they would advance out of group play if their 2-0 lead over Ghana held while South Korea finished with a tie in their match against Portugal. That strategy backfired in a big way, and now South Korea has advanced out of the group while Uruguay is going home.

There were two big moments that led to South Korea moving on and Uruguay going home. The first one was a goal in the 91st minute by South Korea’s Hwang Hee-Chan to give his country the game-winning goal. Watch it here:

Here’s another look at the goal. What a beauty:

News of South Korea’s goal spread through the stadium during the Uruguay-Ghana match, and Uruguay knew their prevent defense strategy was not going to cut it. Uruguay needed a goal, and they came damn close to getting one. Only one problem: Ghana goalie Lawrence Ati-Zigi made an incredible save.

If Uruguay scored here, they would have gone through to the knockout round and South Korea would have gone home. South Korea needs to send Ati-Zigi a fruit basket as a thank you.

What a save. What a moment. This has been one of the wildest World Cup group stages ever, and the drama has gone down to the very last day.

South Korea cried tears of joy:

Uruguay cried tears of sadness. Sorry Suarez.

Ghana did everything they could to make sure Uruguay wasn’t going to advance even though their tournament run was also over.

I asked my coworkers to put Suarez in NBA terms. They said “Draymond with a sprinkling of Chris Paul nut-punching.” The schadenfreude is off the charts.

The 2022 World Cup group stage was so much fun. We can only hope the knockout round will be just as good.