South Korea's goalkeeper had a World Cup nightmare - but it's nothing compared to what he did in 2019

Analysis

Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu was responsible for his country's 1-0 loss to Mexico, but it arguably wasn't even the worst blunder of his career.

Thursday's clash between the Taegeuk Warriors and co-hosts El Tri turned out to be not a game of two halves but a game of two goalkeepers. While Mexico shot-stopper Raul "Tala" Rangel produced a sensational last-ditch save to salvage all three points for Mexico and ensure progression to the new round of 32, Kim had a very different experience.

Shortly after half-time, in the 50th minute, Mexico forward Julian Quinones crossed the ball to striker Raul Jimenez, whose attempted header deflected off a defender and looped in the air. Kim came charging off his line to pull off what should have been an easy catch.

However, due to a lack of communication, Lee Gi-hyuk did not get out of the way properly, which meant that Kim collided with his defender while jumping and fumbled the ball, allowing Luis Romero to pounce and put the loose ball in the back of the net.

Speaking after the game, Kim took responsibility but made sure to emphasise that it was one major mistake in what has otherwise been a very good tournament so far for him. "It was my judgment," he said of his blunder.

"I should have focused more. Goalkeepers are bound to face criticism for a poorly conceded goal, despite playing well. Today's outcome was poor. I will do my best in the remaining matches."

South Korea's goalkeeper problem

Kim is right to point out that he has been quite good so far at the World Cup. He stood on his head as South Korea came from 1-0 down to beat Czechia in the opening game, and he produced a very good save after his mistake against Mexico.

However, it is difficult to look past his costly mistake because, unfortunately, that has been the story of his career. There is no denying that Kim does most of the basics right - he is South Korea's No.1 for a reason - and he has even improved several aspects of his game, such as his passing, in recent years.

That said, his error-proneness has defined his career just as much as his solid shot-stopping. This, though, is a larger issue that South Korean football has had to contend with: despite boasting so many elite attackers and good all-rounders, the country just can't produce world-class goalkeepers.

It hasn't been for a lack of trying, that's for sure. The domestic K League implemented a ban on foreign goalkeepers in 1999 in a bid to raise the standard of domestic shot-stoppers, but with little tangible success. The prohibition was lifted earlier this year.

Kim has been the face of this systemic failure for the past decade. He is a solid enough goalkeeper, but he isn't elite. To make matters worse, he has this knack of making absolutely catastrophic mistakes.

His blunder against Mexico was far from the first in his career, and it likely won't be the last. His error on Thursday was his most high-profile one to date - it happened on the biggest stage of them all - but it arguably wasn't even his worst.

Kim's incredible mistake in 2019

Let's rewind the clock to 2019 - which is admittedly difficult given that the COVID-19 pandemic has seemingly warped everyone's perception of time. Seven years ago, Kim returned to his boyhood club Ulsan Hyundai after a three-year spell at Vissel Kobe in Japan, where he had played alongside Andres Iniesta.

If you know anything about the current K League, you will know that Ulsan have become a domestic behemoth. They won three successive championships before Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the previous serial winners, reclaimed their crown in 2025.

However, this wasn't the case yet in 2019. On the contrary, Ulsan were doing everything in their power to finally get back to the top after not winning a national title in 14 years.

At the time, they had earned a reputation for choking when the pressure was on. To put it bluntly, they were seen as bottlers. But they were determined to finally get that monkey off their back, and they looked a good bet to achieve it in 2019.

Kim joined a strong team that contained prolific Brazilian striker Junior Negrao, talented young attacker Lee Dong-gyeong, who would go on to play in Germany, 38-cap US international midfielder Mix Diskerud and 23-time Australia international Jason Davidson in defence.

Ulsan did exactly as expected: they were in a fierce struggle for top spot with Jeonbuk, who had won six titles since 2009, and led the league at numerous points in the season.

They kicked off the K League finals stage with three wins from three and managed to hold Jeonbuk to a 1-1 draw after losing to them in the regular season 3-0 just a few weeks earlier. Thanks to this tie, they had a three-point cushion heading into the final match.

The title was all but wrapped up at that point as Ulsan only needed a draw against Pohang Steelers to confirm their long-awaited first K League championship in over a decade. Nobody could believe what followed next.

Pohang went 1-0 up, but Negrao levelled the score in the 37th minute. Three minutes later, Jeonbuk made it 1-0 against Gangwon in the other match, which had kicked off simultaneously.

The 1-1 result would have been enough for Ulsan, but Pohang came out firing in the second half. Stanislav Ilyuchenko put Pohang back in front, so Hyundai were now chasing the game. They needed to equalise because Jeonbuk had the superior goal difference.

They were still trailing late in the game when a ball went out of play in Ulsan's half - and this is where Kim entered the stage. Instead of letting an outfield player take the throw-in, he charged over to the sideline to bring the ball back into play himself, halfway between the corner flag and the centre circle.

He then made another brilliant decision, namely to ignore the safe option - giving the ball to the player that had come towards him - and instead tried to throw to a player stationed centrally, who seemingly wasn't even paying attention.

His undercooked lob was easily collected by Heo Yong-jun, who passed the ball into an empty net to make it 3-1 and put the game - and Ulsan's title hopes - to bed. Pohang would score another one deep into stoppage time for the final 4-1 result.

It was a monumental error that quickly gave rise to match-fixing allegations online, given the K League's troubled history with such incidents, but there was never any proof of foul play. It was simply, to put it bluntly, a brain fart from Kim.

Having quite literally thrown the title away, he departed Ulsan for Kashiwa Reysol in Japan in the following transfer window. He was replaced by Daegu FC's Jo Hyeon-woo at Ulsan, who was widely considered the best goalkeeper in South Korea at the time. He had starred at the 2018 World Cup and turned down Bundesliga offers in order to link up with Hyundai.

When he arrived, Jo made it a point to emphasise that he joined because he wanted to help Ulsan finally get over the line. It would take another couple of years - until 2022 - but he achieved what he had set out to do, winning three consecutive championships.

Jo is still with Ulsan today, but he ironically has had to make do with a place on the bench behind Kim for South Korea this summer. Perhaps the 34-year-old will get another chance at World Cup football in the final group stage game after Kim's blunder against Mexico.

Written by

Tom Weber | Writer

Tom Weber is an experienced, multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer as part of his freelance work for FootballTransfers.

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