Related News
Koreans hang on to deny China
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea was lucky to survive a second-half onslaught from China in their 2018 World Cup qualifier yesterday as it held on for a 3-2 home victory.
Three-nil up, the hosts suddenly had their backs to the wall after a thrilling 10 minutes of pressure saw China score twice and go close to a third.
Korea, which has lost just once in 19 matches since the Asian Cup final in January 2015, took the lead in fortunate fashion after 20 minutes.
Son Heung-min’s free kick teased Chinese goalkeeper Zeng Cheng and Zheng Zhi directed the ball into his own net.
The Koreans went 2-0 up through Lee Chung-yong’s powerful second-half header and the Group A game looked dead and buried when Koo Ja-cheol bundled home Son’s cross in the 66th.
The atmosphere at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium had an unusual dynamic after the Korea Football Association allocated 15,000 tickets to Chinese fans, with the entire south stand given over to the visitors to make security easier.
Those supporters were on their feet in the 75th when a poor clearance from Oh Jae-suk fell to Chinese midfielder Yu Hai and he slammed the ball past goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong.
After struggling to get a shot on target the entire game, China then grabbed a second goal two minutes later through Hao Junmin’s superb free kick.
With the game on a knife-edge, the visitors almost claimed an equalizer when Ren Hang smashed a volley that was tipped over by Jung.
Chinese coach Gao Hongbo said the game would help his side in its remaining qualifiers.
“We are up against Iran next. They are another strong team with lots of experience,” he explained. “China lacks experience at the top level so in that sense I believe the Korea match helped a lot.”
Elsewhere, the United Arab Emirates surprised Japan 2-1 in Saitama and Australia beat Iraq 2-0 in Perth in opening Group B matches in Asian qualifying for the World Cup in Russia.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
