Korea closer to Olympics with 1-0 Saudi defeat
By Cho Mu-hyun
The Korean Olympic football team defeated Saudi Arabia at the Seoul World Cup Stadium Sunday, and is now a step closer to the 2012 London Games.
The side remained undefeated atop Group A with a 1-0 win, and now has seven points with two wins and one draw, in the last qualifier for this year. Saudi Arabia is fourth in the group with its Olympic future looking bleak.
Now the Under-23 team can prepare for next year’s qualifying games with a little more ease. The campaign will resume in February with away fixtures in Saudi Arabia and Oman, ending with a home game against Qatar in March.
It is paramount for the team to remain atop the group for a direct passage to the Olympics, as the second-placed nations in each group will have to enter into a playoff for the final Asian place.
Coach Hong Myung-bo chose Kim Hyun-sung, who scored the equalizer against Qatar to spearhead the attack, with Cho Young-cheol and Kim Tae-hwan in support on the wings. With the two J-League players joining the team, Hong was able to employ diverse offensive strategies.
“We took the points we intended to but there were a lot of things lacking,” said the 42-year-old coach after the game. “Our young players were very tired from their away match against Qatar.”
He promised to improve in next year’s qualifiers and added: “I am not worried about the future, because our players have a lot of potential. I will prepare thoroughly with the squad.”
The first goal almost came on 25 minutes when Cho headed Kim Hyun-sung’s pass past Saudi’s goalkeeper Hussain Shaian but the effort was disallowed for offside.
But the offense continued a relentless push, and the 22-year-old Cho gave the home side the lead after 33 minutes when he was fouled in the area by Ahmed Walibi and converted the ensuing penalty.
Saudi Arabia struggled to launch meaningful attacks and rarely progressed past midfield. Only Abdulrahim Jezawi had an attempt on goal and that was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Lee Bum-young.