“Of course I’m very happy about the victory,” said Petrescu. “First half we played better and could have scored more goals. Second half, we played more on the counter attack but still found the second goal.

“I only had four days to work with the team prior to this game, so you can see why we dropped a little in the second half. This is only the first half, the second half is in six days' time in Pohang and qualification will be decided there.”

Goals from Hernandez and Ahn Hyun-beom were overshadowed by injuries picked up by key players, an innocuous challenge towards the end of the first half saw Lee Soo-bin needing to be replaced after suffering an eye injury while Hernandez did not reappear for the second half.

Kim Tae-hwan, who played a significant role for Korea Republic at the recent AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™, was brought on at the start of the second half but also picked up an injury that saw him taken off.

 

“The only negative is that we lost too many players to injuries. One with the head, one with the leg and one other injury, so that is a little problem in my opinion for the second game. 

“Lee has blood in his eyes and may need an operation. Hernandez, I don’t think he will play the second game because at half time, he told me he picked up an injury when he tried to shoot from 40m.

 

“Also Kim, who went in and then came out. He played a lot of games for the national team, so it’s easy to understand why.”