South Korea stumbled into the knockout phase of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup after getting held by pesky Malaysia 3-3 in Qatar on Thursday.
Romel Morales scored the dramatic equalizer for 130th-ranked Malaysia during stoppage time in the second half at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, south of Doha, in the teams’ final group stage match.
Son Heung-min had given world No. 23 South Korea a 3-2 lead with a penalty four minutes into added time, but the Taegeuk Warriors settled for a shocking draw.
South Korea finished as the runner-up in Group E with five points, having earlier defeated Bahrain 3-1 and then played Jordan to a 2-2 draw.
Bahrain won the group with six points with a 1-0 win over Jordan on Thursday.
In the round of 16, South Korea will face the Group F winner, either Saudi Arabia or Thailand. These two countries were scheduled to face each other later Thursday, and Saudi Arabia will win Group F with either a win or a draw against Thailand.
South Korea’s round of 16 match wil
l kick off at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, west of Doha at 7 p.m. Tuesday local time, or 1 a.m. Wednesday in Seoul time.
South Korea are chasing their first Asian Cup title since 1960.
By finishing as the Group E runner-up, South Korea managed to avoid their archrival Japan, the runner-up in Group D, in the round of 16.
The two Asian powers have both been embarrassed in the group stage, with Japan, the top-ranked AFC team at No. 17, having suffered a stunning 2-1 loss to Iraq last week. They are now on the opposite sides of the bracket and can only meet in the final.
With injuries and ineffective play from the back, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann made a few changes to the starting lineup from the two earlier matches.
Left back Lee Ki-je, dealing with a hamstring injury, was out of the lineup. Seol Young-woo, who’d started the two earlier games as the right back, got the start on the left side Thursday. Kim Tae-hwan, a second-half sub on the right side in each of the first two contests, started as th
e right back against Malaysia.
Center Kim Min-jae had a new partner in Kim Young-gwon, who replaced Jung Seung-hyun.
Midfielder Jeong Woo-yeong drew in as a new winger in place of Lee Jae-sung, who moved down to the central midfield position, next to Hwang In-beom, to replace Park Yong-woo.
Jeong made his presence felt with the opening goal in the 21st minute, when he headed home a corner taken by Lee Kang-in.
Goalkeeper Syihan Hazmi appeared to make a desperate save but a video replay showed he had only parried away the ball after it had already crossed the goal line.
The Taegeuk Warriors were firmly in control the rest of the first half, though they were unable to add to their lead.
Cho Gue-sung nearly doubled South Korea’s advantage in the 44th minute, with Hazmi making a kick save on the forward’s header from close range.
That missed opportunity haunted South Korea early in the second half, as Malaysia seized the lead.
Faisal Halim netted the equalizer six minutes after the restart. Darren Lok str
ipped Hwang In-beom of the ball near the South Korean box, and Halim grabbed possession. His initial shot attempt was blocked by defender Kim Min-jae, but Halim got his own rebound and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, who’d charged way out of his position.
Arif Aiman then gave Malaysia the lead by converting his own penalty in the 62nd minute. Defender Seol Young-woo fouled the Malaysian forward in the box — an infraction later confirmed in a video review — and Aiman stepped up to beat Jo to the bottom right corner.
Malaysia nearly went up 3-1 when Halim took a pass from Aiman on a counter break and sent his right-footed shot just wide of the right post.
South Korea kept pressing but saw shot after shot get blocked by Malaysian defenders. The ones that went past multiple bodies went off target.
Then in the 83rd minute, South Korea got a fortuitous bounce to tie the score. Lee Kang-in’s free kick from outside the struck the bottom of the crossbar and then hit the back of Hazmi’s right hand
before crossing the goal line, as the Malaysian goalkeeper was charged with an own goal.
Son then put South Korea up 3-2 four minutes into added time, after Junior Eldstal’s foul on Oh Hyeon-gyu in the box was confirmed by a video review.
But Malaysia battled back to tie the score in the dying moments with Romel Morales’ goal, setting off a wild celebration for a team that had already been eliminated from knockout contention before Thursday’s match.
Source: Yonhap News Agency