By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Some 28,221 football fans who gathered in the Wa Stadium in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province on a cold Wednesday night, wanted to see South Korea's U-23 Olympic football team exhibit style and superb plays against Bahrain but could find them nowhere.
But they did head back home satisfied with their team claiming its sixth straight berth to the Olympics.
The young Korean footballers, who have been plagued by a goal drought after winning three straight games, again couldn't find the net in their final qualifier for the Beijing games, where a draw earned them a place. But the Gulf side's coincident silence helped manager Park Sung-wha's kids savor the moment.
In addition, the draw enabled the Korean team to continue a run of 23 consecutive undefeated games in the final qualifying round of the Olympc games since 1992 when they suffered a 1-0 loss to Qatar.
Unlike the Uzbekistan match, Park put forward Seo Dong-hyeon of the Suwon BlueWings in the lead with Park Chu-young of FC Seoul.
The team got off to a good start with Park's turning shot from the front of the area, two minutes into the first half, and Daegu FC striker Lee Keun-ho's diving header, which was saved by goalie Mohammed Jaffar Ayyad.
Midway through the first half, however, they reverted to the form that garnered them a second scoreless tie.
In the 34th minute, Park's pass left Seo with the ball and only the goalie to beat but he squandered the chance.
FC Seoul midfielder Ki Sung-yueng's bullet of a shot went straight to the goalie.
In the second half, the sub-par display continued.
Seo collected the ball at the near post in the 52nd minute, and fired it in only to see Aayad deflect it.
Ten minutes into the second half, Park's solo run ended with the ball hitting the side netting.
Bahrain had a rare chance in the 62nd minute when Nigeria-born forward Jaycee John Akwani dribbled past defenders into the area, but his final shot was denied by goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong's nice save.
The final day of the qualifying round saw two other teams advance to the Games _ Australia and Japan in Groups A and C, respectively.