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| South Korean U-23 men's football team manager Kim Hak-bum, left, sings the national anthem with the team's staffs defore its match against Jordan at the Thammasat Stadium in Rangsit, Thailand, Sunday. / Yohnap |
By John Duerden
Is South Korea's name on the trophy of the Asian U-23 Championship? Things were looking tense in the quarter final over Jordan as Sunday's game entered the 95th minute. Extra-time and the prospect of a penalty shootout was looming. In these situations just one mistake and you are are going home. It would also mean the end of dreams of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Thanks to Lee Dong-gyeong's late and spectacular free-kick, the road to Tokyo and a ninth successive Olympic appearance is well and truly open. The top three of this 16-nation tournament goes to Japan in the summer meaning that even if these young Taeguk Warriors lose to Australia in Wednesday's semifinal, there will be a playoff for the third-place against either Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan.
Best to beat Australia though, to be sure of the Tokyo ticket and to head into the final and have a chance to lift the trophy.
The Korean players would have kicked themselves had they been eliminated against Jordan as they had enough chances to seal the win and fans in Thailand should not have had to wait until the last kick of the game to be sure of victory.
Cho Gyu-song opened the scoring after 16 minutes. A free-kick had been headed into the air by two Koreans before Cho nodded the ball into an empty net for a simple goal.
Kim Hak-bum's men continued to make the running but could not get that all-important second goal and as Jordan, who had adopted a physical approach to the game and was lucky not to have seen a red card, started to push forward more, there was always a chance that the East Asian team would regret those missed chances.
And so it proved with 15 minutes remaining as Yazan Al-Naimat scored from close range.
Korea, the only team to win all three games in the group stage, reacted as positively as you would expect a talented and confident team to do. There were chances to win the game inside the normal 90 minutes but once again, they were not taken.
Then, with the referee waiting to blow his whistle to signal extra-time, Lee dramatically threw himself to the ground just outside the Jordan area. He took the free-kick himself and curled a beautiful shot around the wall and into the net.
It was a deserved victory and as coach Kim said after the game, it showed that these young players never give up and keep going until the end. The team is certainly capable of defeating Australia in the semi-final and most would expect that to happen.
Yet the Olyroos will present a tough test. Australia has yet to really impress but is starting to look more settled and organized in defense as was shown in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Syria on Saturday (and that gives Korea a day less to rest and prepare than its opponent). Mentally, the team is strong and showed its mettle by coming back from a goal down against the host Thailand in Bangkok to win 2-1.
But Korea is looking confident, sharp and difficult to beat. Four wins out of four but the big one comes on Wednesday. Win that and Korea is going to Japan and will be able to really look forward to the final against either Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia.
