Sweden and the VAR Sink South Korea

With Zlatan Ibrahimović retiring from international football and his country deciding to keep it that way, someone else had to step up with the hot takes.

South Korea's manager Shin Tae-Yong had no problem stepping up for that role.

It was a different story on the pitch, though.

One where the technology shared the spotlight yet again, confirming a missed penalty call that set up Sweden to win from the spot.

 

And who's gonna argue? As opposed to gridiron football, where the game's overseers can't figure out their own rules, the world's game keeps Virtual Assistant Referee decisions quite simple and stark.

So far, anyway.

The fun began in this one long before the match did. The Taegeuk Warriors manager wasn't clear in the months leading up to the World Cup as to whether his practices were public or private. Thus, Swedish manager Janne Andersson wandered in to make a few observations. According to him, anyway.

 

Ya sure, you betcha.

He later apologized, but Shin was unfazed. He said he merely had his players swap jerseys to confuse Andersson because -- as Shin in effect said -- white dudes think all Asians look alike, anyway.

Maybe it worked for the first 20 minutes. The South Koreans were the better side, with Son Heung-min being their most dangerous player.

Sweden started to assume control soon thereafter, led by Emil Forsberg.

Ultimately, after a number of stellar saves by Cho Hyun-woo, the defense was getting into dicier and dicier situations:

 

After that, it seemed like the Taegeuk Warriors were backing off. Why? Shin was quick with the response:

His dudes were intimidated by Sweden's taller roster.

 

Yeah, right.

Actually, only Serbia's taller in this tournament.

Sweden kept ratcheting up the pressure and, in the 64th minute, were awarded a penalty when the VAR caught what the referee had missed:

 

And that was that. 1-0 to the Blågult -- blue-gold, the national colors -- thanks to captain Andreas Granqvist’s goal.

Sweden won their first World Cup opener since 1958, one where gaining the three points was a requirement, as they've now got Mexico and sobered up Germany on the horizon:

They'd be well advised to start finishing their chances.