Korean defender Jung Dong-ho, right, attempts a shot during the team’s final qualifying game for the Olympics against Qatar at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Wednesday. Korea drew with the visiting Middle Eastern side, after already qualifying for the London Olympic Games. / Yonhap

By Cho Mu-hyun

Korea drew 0-0 with visiting Qatar in its final game of the qualifiers for the London Olympic Games, Wednesday.

The game brought a successful conclusion to Korea’s road to the Summer Games. The squad led by Hong Myung-bo had already secured a spot for the Olympics after a 3-0 win against Oman on Feb. 22, and would have maintained its top status in the group regardless of the result.

Third-placed Qatar hoped to earn a berth by becoming the runner-up in Group A at the expense of Oman, but failed to qualify with the draw. Oman, who tied with Saudi Arabia and maintained its second-seed status on the same day, will now enter the round-robin playoff in Vietnam this month in which the winner faces Senegal for a last chance to enter the main Games.

Korea now has no more fixtures until the Olympic Games begin on July 27; and ended their seventh consecutive entry into the Olympics in high style with 12 points, four more than Oman.

The national team is expected to start training that will have players travel back and forth between their clubs and the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Prior to the match, the 42-year-old Hong vowed not to take the other side lightly despite the relative unimportance of the result, but he did use different untried players in his line-up.

Kim Dong-sub, instead of expected Kim Hyun-sung, took the pitch to spearhead the 4-2-3-1 formation widely used by Korea during the qualifiers. Yoon Il-lok and Moon Sang-yoon took the winger positions usually taken by absentees Kim Bo-kyoung and Baek Sung-dong.

Qatar manager Paulo Autuori stated his intentions to keep hopes for London alive in a press conference on Monday, saying he “came to Korea to win” and that his team would give everything they’ve got against the home side.

The Middle-Eastern visitors kept their word, showing a sharp offense during the first half. Forward Hassan Khalid shot past goalkeeper Lee Beom-young in the 14th minute, but was called offside by the referee.

Yoon Bitgaram attempted to return the favor at 30 minutes with a powerful shot from the edge of the Qatar’s penalty area which hit a defender instead of the net.

The first 30 minutes saw the home side’s debuting K-League players somewhat disconnected and needing time to adapt to the personnel changes, until Yoon Il-lok started to take charge and had some four chances at goal.

Yoon received Seo Jung-jin’s pass from the left and faced the goal keeper alone at 42 minutes, but his shot hit the crossbar.

Qatar lost their sharpness near the end of the first half, and struggled to react to Korea who dominated the second half with over 10 shots on goal.

Hong deployed Kim Tae-hwan for Seo to change the pace at 62 minutes, but Yoon Il-lok’s and Jung Dong-ho’s multiple efforts to score were blocked by Qatari goal keeper Ahmed Soufiane.

Korea has not lost to Qatar since 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic qualifiers, and now has a record of 21 wins and 8 draws against the Middle Eastern side.