 South Korea midfielder Kim Min-woo runs with the ball during the second leg of a second Olympic qualifying preliminary round match against Jordan at Amman International Stadium, Friday (KST). South Korea advanced to the final qualifying stage with a 4-2 aggregate win. / Yonhap |
By Yoon Chul
South Korea’s football team advanced to the final stage of Asian qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, after a 1-1 draw with Jordan, Friday (KST).
The result gave Korea a 4-2 aggregate win in the second preliminary round match at the Amman International Stadium after Korea secured a 3-1 win in the first leg in Seoul on Sunday.
The Taegeuk Warriors conceded the game’s first goal to Hamza Al Dardour at the end of the first half but Hong Chul’s equalizer saw them progress to the next round.
“In tough circumstances our boys gave a huge effort to advance. They should be praised and I did so,” South Korea’s manager Hong Myung-bo said after the game.
The home side’s goal came in the 41st minute when Dardour eased past three Koreans and his looping shot from the right found the net.
A 2-0 win for Jordan would have seen them advance on away goals.
“To be honest with you, I couldn’t prevent the anxiety,” Hong said about Jordan taking the lead.
“But I expected that my boys would do well. Hong Chul has recovered from injury for this game. As we intended we did well.”
Defender Hong Chul eventually put a smile on his manager’s face in the 71st. He curled a shot from the edge of the 18 yard box into the right corner of the goal.
While Korea extends its hopes of appearing at a seventh consecutive Summer Games, the team again conceded the first goal of the game.
“That is definitely an area we have to improve,” Korea’s manager said.
“We tried to make perfect chances rather than shoot which allowed counterattacks and that affected the whole game.”
While Hong’s side revealed weakness in its back line, the coach said that the problem is not only with the defense.
“When the players lose the ball, giving a chance for the opposition to attack, everyone including the forwards should consider themselves defenders.”
He added that some of the squad didn’t do as well as he had expected saying, “During the next two months for the final stage I may make sweeping changes.”
He agreed that calling on several new players with just two months left could be a dangerous move but also said it will be very tough for the current squad to qualify for the London Games.
The good news for South Korea is that they avoid regional powerhouses Australia and Japan, as all three finished as top seeds for the final stage.
The final Asian 12 countries will be divided into three groups with three seeded teams based on their performance in qualifying for and results at the last Olympics.
Korea, Australia and China were the top nations but China failed to advance to the final qualifying round losing to Oman 4-1 on aggregate to allow Japan to be the third seeded team.
The winner of each group of four will automatically qualify for the London Games. The three runners-up will face each other, to determine which one will go on to a playoff against an African team for the final Olympic place.
Meanwhile North Korea failed to move on to the next round losing to Kuwait 4-3 over two legs.
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