By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea's national football team closed its two-week long training session with a good 2-1 win over Uzbekistan.
In their final friendly match Thursday night ahead of the Asian Cup at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Shimizu S-Pulse forward Cho Jae-jin found the net twice to lift Dutchman Pim Verbeek's side past the Asian Cup qualifier.
South Korea will fly to Jakarta, Indonesia today in which they will have three preliminary matches in the Asian quadrennial football competition.
The 51st-ranked Korea belongs to Group D with three-time winner Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and co-host Indonesia while the Central Asian nation, ranked 58th, is drawn in Group C with China, Iran and Malaysia.
South Koreans whose 4-2-3-1 formation paid off opened the game with Cho's goal.
In the 6th minute, right wing forward Choi Sung-kuk of the Ulsan Tigers slipped a pass into the center to striker Cho, who fired home directly into the right corner from just outside the goal area, to give the Korean squad a 1-0 lead.
After a series of chances, Cho, who said he had been motivated by Middlesbrough forward Lee Dong-gook's brilliant performance against Iraq, add another goal.
Yeom Ki-hun, who recorded his first international match goal against Iraq last Friday, sent a cross in and Cho headed into the left corner of the goal 14 minutes later.
Entering the second half, manager Verbeek substituted Lee Dong-gook for forward Cho to extend the advantage, but instead Uzbekistan managed to score a goal.
In the 63rd minute, Uzbekistan was awarded a penalty after defender Kang Min-soo committed a foul on a tackle in the box, and converted it to narrow the gap.
This motivated the Uzbeks and they continued to attack Korea, but the home team survived the late rally.