By Andrew Carroll
Sports Editor


Despite being a man down for almost half the game the South Korean national football managed to beat the United Arab Emirates 2-0 in Friday night’s Asian Cup Group B match in Jinan, China.

Goals in either half by Lee Dong-gook and Ahn Jung-hwan placed the Koreans tied atop the group with Jordan who beat Kuwait 2-0 earlier in the day. Both teams have a win and a draw with two goals after fighting to a scoreless tie in the opener.

Kuwait are third with a win and a loss while the UAE have lost both matches meaning South Korea need only a draw to advance to the quarterfinals.

Lee put South Korea up in the first half after the UAE had threatened to score on several occasions as he headed in a free-kick from Lee Young-pyo in the 40th minute.

The Koreans were put on the defensive after defender Park Jae-hong was sent off for his second yellow card nine minutes after the break and held off a tiring UAE side before Ahn netted the clincher two minutes into injury time.

It marked the second straight match that the national team lost a defender to a red card as Choi Jin-cheul was sent off in the opener.

While the team will be happy to get the full points, they did it in unconvincing fashion.

The UAE got the first scoring chance of the game, taking advantage of a defensive mistake but Lee Woon-jae was there to stop Mohamed Rashid’s shot. It wouldn’t be the only time Lee was called upon to save his teammates after a lapse at the back, but with veterans Choi Jin-cheul and Kim Tae-young both out some mistakes were to be expected. Seol Ki-hyeon put South Korea’s first shot on net in the 17th minute only to see UAE goalkeeper Juma Rashed snap it out of the air.

While Bonfrere was forced to use the second-string trio of Lee Min-sung, Park Jae-hong and Park Jin-sub at the back the biggest problem on defense early on was Kim Nam-il as he turned the ball over numerous times and inexplicably gave up the chase on a UAE attacker after he gained a step on him.

It was one of Kim’s turnovers that resulted in the UAE’s best chance but Lee Woo-jae bailed him out once again in the 23rd minute, placing himself in perfect position to make the stop on a header by Mohamed Rashid from in close.

After the opening half hour the UAE pulled back for a good stretch and, try as they might, South Korea were unable to break through.

Basher Saeed then tested Lee with a long-range free-kick in the 36th minute but the Korean captain was able to parry the rocket away.

Shortly thereafter Lee Young-pyo earned a free-kick deep in UAE territory and his cross into the area found Lee Dong-gook’s head before goalkeeper Rashed could get to it to put South Korea up 1-0.

However, the UAE had one more scare for the group favorites before the interval but Lee was able to make the save after Ismail Matar was unable to get much on a centering pass.

South Korea started off the second half with a bit more energy until Park Jae-hong was booked for his second offense to put the team down a man.

As the UAE moved forward Park was caught turning the wrong way on a centering pass and caught Salem Khanis flush on the thigh with his boat earning him a second clumsy if unintentional yellow card.

As a result South Korea pulled back and with the tables turned the UAE were unable to mount much of an attack as they ran out of gas as the game wore on.

Ahn Jung-hwan had a golden chance to put the game out of reach after being put in the clear for 30 yards by a Seol Ki-hyeon pass but his chip attempt went long by a good 15 meters.

After a last-ditch attempt by the UAE the Koreans once again took the ball upfield and Ahn made good on a second chance, once again put in the clear by Seol, and finished clinically, tucking the ball just inside the far post two minutes into injury time.

South Korea face Kuwait in their final group match on Tuesday at the same venue.

carrolland@speedpost.net