“Sorrowful memory, canceled by mistake”…Joaquin’s retirement from the Korean War 20 years ago ‘summon’

Even after 20 years, Spain has not forgotten the injustice. 

The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, where Spain lost in the quarterfinals against Korea, recalled the sad memory of losing due to a misjudgment. 

Spanish media Marca introduced the career of Joaquin, 스포츠토토who announced his retirement on the 20th (Korean time), and reported that he lost the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup by mistake. 

Real Betis announced on the 20th that captain and club legend Joaquin will retire at the end of this season. 

Born in 1981, the 41-year-old started learning football at the Betis Academy and grew up there, earning a promotion to the first team in the summer of 2000. 

After six years at Betis, he transferred to Valencia in 2006 and paid a transfer fee of 25 million euros (approximately 36.4 billion won), which was quite high at the time, to his former team. 

Afterwards, he went through Malaga in 2011 and Fiorentina in 2013 and returned to Betis in 2015, where he has been active for eight years. 

Joaquín’s 615 appearances in La Liga currently put him just seven behind Barcelona’s legendary goalkeeper Andoni Zubissareta, who holds the record for most appearances in La Liga history. 

Marca introduced Joaquin’s national team career upon his retirement.

Joaquin also played for Spain. In February 2002, he made his debut at the age of 20 under coach Jose Antonio Camacho and was selected to represent the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. 

As a member of the rotation, he recorded one assist in the third group match against South Africa, and received his first start in the quarterfinals against South Korea. He played all 120 minutes, including overtime, as the 4th kicker in the penalty shootout and hung his head as Lee Woon-jae made a save, and Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals. 

The media claimed that Egyptian national referee Al Gandour was wrong at the time, saying, “Sad memories of Spanish football fans will always be in Joaquín’s play.” 

At that time, in the first minute of the second half, Joaquin’s cross followed Fernando Morientes’ shot to the net. However, referee Al Ghandour declared a goal kick and canceled the goal, saying that the kick was taken from outside the goal line when Joaquin’s cross came up. 

Spanish players protested against this. On the relay screen, when Joaquin’s cross started, the ball did not cross the goal line. However, the assistant referee raised his spirit and declared a goal kick.

It was a mistake, but after that, Spain failed to take advantage of the opportunity and eventually lost due to Joaquin’s miss. A truly strong team should have won the game, but they couldn’t. 

The press lamented, “Joaquin lost in the penalty shootout and became the culprit behind Spain’s failure to advance to the semifinals.” 

Meanwhile, Joaquin participated in UEFA (European Football Federation) Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and was not selected for the national team until 2007. After coach Luis Aragones took over the team, he was turned away, and Spain achieved the great feat of winning the Euro 2008-2010 South Africa World Cup-Euro 2012, three consecutive major tournaments. 

Even after 20 years, Spain has not forgotten the injustice.  The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, where Spain lost in the quarterfinals against Korea, recalled the sad memory of losing due to a misjudgment.  Spanish media Marca introduced the career of Joaquin, 스포츠토토who announced his retirement on the 20th (Korean time), and reported that he lost…