In Asia, South Korea has one of the best football teams from all across the continent. They participate in many FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup. For this reason, people can try online bet now with 1xBet bookmaker, and follow its interesting matches.
The South Koreans looked forward to doing a good job in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. While nobody expected that they could claim the trophy, at least they expected to have a good result that could help them in the future.
During the qualifying stage, the South Koreans performed quite well. They started in a solid way. They managed to beat Kazakhstan, the UAE, Japan and Uzbekistan. This helped the team to reach first place of their group, and secure historic qualification for the tournament that was held in France. To try an online bet with the 1xBet bookmaker right now, in the FIFA World Cup and its qualifying phase, can be very rewarding for punters.
A difficult group
The group that the South Koreans had during the selection allowed them to qualify without major issues. However, the group they had during the World Cup itself was a different story. They had some tough rivals, for which making your best live bet on 1xBet can bring successful results. The teams that were drawn alongside the Koreans included:
- México;
- Belgium;
- and the Netherlands.
Things started in a bad way for the Asian team. They lost their opening match against Mexico. This match took place on the 13th of June 1998. The final score was 3-1, and the goals were scored by Ricardo Peláez, Luis Hernández and Ha Seok-ju. Having lost this match, the prospect of facing Belgium and Netherlands seemed extremely difficult. On 1xBet, it is possible to make your best live bet on all the matches that take place during the competition.
The catastrophe
South Korea needed to face the Dutch team. A loss against them would leave the Asian team practically eliminated. The Netherlands is a great team that constantly features at the 1xbetbd.com, and betting on it can lead to big wins.
The match took place on the 20th of June 1998 in the city of Marseille, and the Netherlands won for a comfortable 5-0. Ironically, the coach of the Dutch team was Guus Hiddink, who took South Korea to a historic fourth place in the following World Cup.
Ronald de Boer, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Phillip Cocu, Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp scored for the Oranje. The Dutch team constantly bombarded the goal protected by Ki Byung-Ji. Despite the high score, the Korean keeper was one of the best of the match. If it hadn’t been for his saves, the final score could have been much higher. Users can visit 1xBet to wager on many rewarding things, including the performances of goalkeepers.