Casillas has been left behind for 23 years, but the quarterfinals in Korea and Spain were not a fair result of the game lost to the referee

Sep 10, 2025

Casillas has been left behind for 23 years, but the quarterfinals in Korea and Spain were not a fair result of the game lost to the referee
Sportschosun DB



Spanish legend Iker Casillas was still angry at the 2002 World Cup.

Casillas, a legend of Real Madrid and Spain's national team when he was active, will soon participate in the 2025 Icon Match hosted by Nexon in Korea. Casillas is a legend that needs no explanation. He made his debut with Real in 1999 and won five La Liga titles and three European Champions League titles in 16 seasons, becoming Spain's best goalkeeper ever.

His performance in the national team was also great. As a captain who led Spain's heyday, he experienced three consecutive major tournaments from Euro 2008 to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and Euro 2012. He was considered the world's best goalkeeper for his reflexes and stable saves, and retired due to heart disease after continuing his career in Porto.




Casillas is coming to Korea for the first time in 23 years for an icon match. Casillas, who had an interview with YouTube channel Shoot For Love before visiting Korea, confessed that his memories in Korea were not good. He went to Korea 23 years ago. He participated in the World Cup for Spain. It's a bad memory for me."
Casillas has been left behind for 23 years, but the quarterfinals in Korea and Spain were not a fair result of the game lost to the referee
Twenty-three years ago, Casillas played the World Cup as Spain's starting goalkeeper. Casillas, who was 20 years old at the time, was not originally the main player, but Casillas took off as the main player due to the injury of the No. 1 goalkeeper. In the first World Cup, Casillas would have expected a good performance, but he had to go home after the quarterfinals against South Korea.

Casillas is "because of the penalty shootout. Also, we had two goals canceled in that game. That's when the game was completely taken away by referee Al Gandur. I wasn't very lucky that day. It wasn't a fair result, it was because we were eliminated. Still, we have no choice but to accept it. The game is a really bad memory for me." Still, Spain lost to South Korea because of the misjudgment.

The two goals Casillas says seem to refer to the scoring situation that came out of the competition between Ivan Elguera and Kim Tae-young in the fourth minute of the second half and Fernando Morientes' scoring situation in the early part of extra time. Looking back at the first situation, the referee blew the whistle even before Elguera scored. At the time, the referee claimed that Ivan Elguera immediately blew the foul because he clearly pushed Kim Tae-young's head.
Casillas has been left behind for 23 years, but the quarterfinals in Korea and Spain were not a fair result of the game lost to the referee
Sportschosun DB
In the second situation, Joaquin Sanchez crossed after trying to break through from the right, and the assistant referee who saw the cross raised the flag. Morientes received the cross and finished, but the referee trusted the referee's judgment and made the decision. The assistant referee picked up the flag because he thought Joaquin's cross had gone off the field. There is still a lot of controversy over this ruling.

However, it is a quarterfinal match between Korea and Spain, which is controversial about the Spanish players' violent fouls. This is because there was no warning or exit even in the non-manner play of the Spanish players. Casillas' claim to talk as if only Spain was damaged by the decision is somewhat hard to understand.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.