Asian Cup: South Korea, Qatar make quarterfinals
January 23, 2019
South Korea 2 - 1 Bahrain
(Hwang Hee-chan 43, Kim Jin-su 105+2 - Al Romaihi 77)
In a tournament where shocks have never seemed far away, the 2015 runners up came close to elimination after a disappointing display in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
South Korea, who boast probably the tournament's finest player in Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min, needed the late intervention of Kim from the bench to avoid a penalty shootout that, for a time, felt inevitable. The defender, who had only come on 10 minutes earlier, netted with a diving header at the far post following Lee Yong's cross.
Lee had also set up South Korea's first goal with another cross after being picked out by a slide rule pass from Son. Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Shubbar Alawi managed to push out the cross but it went straight to Hwang Hee-chan, who made no mistake.
But the Koreans failed to capitalize on their lead and conceded their first goal of the tournament with 13 minutes remaning of normal time when Mohamed Saad Alromaihi slammed in the rebound after a Korean defender had hacked a shot off the line.
But Kim's late intervention saved Paulo Bento's side, who will play Qatar in the last eight on Friday.
Qatar 1 - 0 Iraq
(Al-Rawi 62')
The World Cup 2022 hosts booked that date with South Korea after another impressive and gritty display sent Iraq home at the last 16 stage.
Bassam Al-Rawi's direct free kick just after the hour was a rare moment of quality in a frantic encounter in Abu Dhabi and was worthy of winning the game for the Qataris.
Yet to concede a goal in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar have not previously been beyond the tournament's last eight.
mp (AP, Reuters)