Sports / News
South Korea scrape into Asian Cup quarters
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-19 08:51
JAKARTA, July 18 - South Korea scraped into the Asian Cup quarter-finals
with a fraught 1-0 win over Indonesia in their final Group D game on
Wednesday.
The victory, coupled with Saudi Arabia's 4-0 hammering of Bahrain, sent
the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists into last eight after going into the
last round of matches bottom of the standings.
Kim Jung-woo scored the priceless goal for South Korea in the 34th
minute, but they were made to sweat in a torrid second half as Indonesia
threw everything into attack.
"We spoke to the players before the game and told them that every game
from now on would be like a final," Korea coach Pim Verbeek told
reporters.
"I'm happy. We were in control and we're ready for the next round."
South Korea were the stronger team throughout at a hostile Gelora Bung
Karno Stadium but failed once again to kill the game off. The Koreans had
surrendered one-goal leads to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain through defensive
lapses in earlier group games.
"The chance we gave away at the end of the first half shows that we still
haven't learned from previous games," added Verbeek. "This time we were
lucky."
Indonesia failed to create any real clear-cut chances but gave a good
account of themselves against what coach Ivan Kolev said was one of the
strongest teams in Asia.
"I am disappointed because we didn't quality, but also proud as my
players as they fought to the death," Kolev said.
"From the very first match they played at their best, even though we knew
that our opponents were all very strong."
With so much at stake it was always going to be a ferocious contest. The
90,000 fans inside the cavernous stadium in the Indonesian capital let
their feeling show too, tearing down a banner reading "Korea Indonesia
Friendship".
South Korea had the best of the early exchanges, but Indonesia's
counterattacks were posing a problem and Elie Aiboy should have done
better than curl the ball over the bar on the half hour.
The co-hosts were made to pay when Korea took the lead four minutes later.
Lee Chun-soo floated past three half-hearted challenges and laid the ball
off to midfielder Kim. His crisp shot from the edge of the area took the
slightest of deflections on the way past goalkeeper Muhammad Ridwan.
South Korea maintained possession well in the second half, creating and
squandering a host of chances.
Indonesia threw everything into attack, leaving gaps at the back for
Korea to exploit, but neither team were able to find the net.
South Korea face Group C winners Iran in the quarter-finals in Malaysia
on Sunday.
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