- The South Korean's men's
soccer team lost itsOlympics opening-round match toNew Zealand . South Korea was a heavy favorite while New Zealand had never won an Olympics men's soccer match.- After the match, a South Korean player rejected a handshake from a New Zealand player.
South Korea's men's soccer team dropped its opening match of the Tokyo Olympics to New Zealand on Thursday by a score of 1-0, and one South Korean player turned down a handshake with a New Zealand opponent after the game.
South Korea came into the game as a minus-155 favorite, according to Fanduel. Meanwhile, New Zealand had never won a men's soccer match in the Olympics.
New Zealand's historic win came at the expense of the South Korean team's gold-medal aspirations and even the pride of one player.
Lee Dong-gyeong was seen on a video rejecting a handshake from the New Zealand player Chris Wood.
The 29-year-old Wood, who scored the game-winning goal in the 70th minute of the match, is one of New Zealand's three players over the age of 23 but still allowed to play in a squad of players under the age of 23.
South Korea and New Zealand are in Group B of the Olympic tournament, sharing the group with Romania and Honduras. Romania beat Honduras 1-0 on Thursday.
South Korea will now move on to play Romania on Sunday and will look to finish in the top two spots of Group B in order to qualify for the tournament quarterfinals, but it will have little room for error after the stunning loss to New Zealand.
New Zealand meanwhile has a chance to clinch a spot in the tournament quarterfinals if it can beat Honduras on Sunday.