Lee's Golden Goal Gives South Korea Dramatic WinTop striker Lee Dong Gook Monday scored his fourth goals and golden goal in a sudden-death extra time to send South Korea through to the semi-finals with a dramatic 2-1 win over Iran in Tripoli, Lebanon.China met little challenge to dispose off Qatar 3-1 in Monday's other quarter-finals match in Saida. Their semi-finals opponents will be the winners of Tuesday's match between Japan and Iraq. The Koreans should contributed the victory to Kim Sang Sik who saved the game from the edge of the cliff with an injury-time equalizer that sent the game into the extra time. After Karim Bagheri put Iran ahead with a 35-yard powerful shot with 19 minutes to go in a hard-fought match-up, the Iranis looked set to qualify for the next round to face the winners of the game between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. That goal left the Koreans no choice but to pick up all their attacking strength to find the space to score, and their efforts paid off in the final minute. With the consistent strikes from the desperate Koreans in the late of the match, the Iranis' defense failed to conquer Kim in front of the goal and let him fire his shot. Lee, who was left off from the starting line-up with chronic knee injury, came onto the pitch in the 76th minute, and hit the first golden goal of the tournament in the 99th minute. Iran's coach, Jalal Talibi, said the game should have ended in the 90 minutes. "We paid for the mistakes in the late of the game although we had put on a good game," he said. Talibi dismissed the absence of Khodadad Azizi, who was suspended for two yellow cards in the first round, as a prime factor for Iran's defeat. Huh Yong Moo, South Korea's head coach, said, "The key to win the game is keeping Ali Daei in check from the midfield." A sudden heavy rain fell 15 minute before the start of the game in Saida, but the Chinese beat the weather to advance into the semi-finals for the first time since 1992. Midfielder Li Ming gave an early lead to China in the ninth minute with a delegate lop over a defender and beat another before his angled shot sent goalkeeper Hussain Al-Romaihi the wrong direction. Qi Hong, who replaced injured Ma Mingyu to start the match, stamped China's domination with a long-rang shot in the 38th minute. Al-Eomaihi stretched out for a save but could not reach the ball which rocketed into the far corner of the net. Bundesliga striker Yang Chen from the Eintracht Frankfurt sealed the victory on a fast break in the 54th minute when he slotted home on a long cross of Shen Si from the defense. Qatar's striker Mohammed Al-Enazi scored a consolation goal in the 64th minute when Chinese passes were intersected in the defense. |
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