FOOTBALL
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
South Korea’s 27-year wait for an Asian Cup final appearance is over after the Taeguk Warriors saw off Iraq 2-0 at ANZ Stadium.
Goals in either half from Lee Jeong-Hyeop and Kim Young Gwon sealed the victory and banished memories of their heartbreaking semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat to the Lions of Mesopotamia seven years ago.
Uli Stielike’s side will now face Australia or the United Arab Emirates in Saturday’s final in Sydney and have yet to concede a goal in 480 minutes of football in addition to winning all five of their games.
Both sets of fans played their part in creating a cracking atmosphere but the noisy Iraq contingent were stunned into silence when Lee Jeong-Hyeop opened the scoring in the 20th minute.
The striker rose unchallenged in a crowded box to nod home a beautifully flighted free-kick from left-back Kim Jin Su past the despairing Ahmed Ibrahim.
Iraq tried to work their way back into the game with young midfielder Ahmed Yaseen breaking clear only for South Korea enforcer Park Joo Ho to end his run with a cynical handball.
However, Japanese referee Ryiji Sato opted for a yellow card instead of a red and the resulting free kick was easily dealt with by the Korean defence.
Stielike’s side started the second half strongly with the exciting Son Heung Min seeing a shot on the run stopped well by Ibrahim and man of the match Nam Tae Hee firing over from the edge of the box.
But Ibrahim was beaten for a second time five minutes after the restart when defender Kim demonstrated great technique to drill a half-volley into the bottom right corner after the ball was chested down to his feet by Lee Jeonghyeop.
That setback injected some life into the Iraqis who to their credit battled manfully in search of an equaliser.
With evergreen skipper Younus Mahmood leading the line superbly they Korean defence were forced onto the back foot for large parts of the second period.
Mahmood went close with a header that drifted just wide and young winger Amjed Kalaf saw his shot deflect off a wall of red bodies but across the face of goal.
But with centre-half Kwak Taehwi marshalling the Korean back four superbly, Iraq began to run out of ideas as their memorable campaign came to end in front of a crowd of just under 37,000. - AAP