South Korea narrowly escaped embarrassment on the second matchday of the Asian Cup. Only an own goal in stoppage time against Jordan brought the equalizer
South Korea national coach Jürgen Klinsmann wanted to take a big step towards the round of 16 in the second group match against Jordan after the opening win against Bahrain (3:1). To this end, he used the same starting line-up, with Bayern’s Kim and Tottenham star Son back in the squad. Stuttgart’s Jeong was substituted in the second half
And the Koreans got off to a good start: Son converted a penalty after just nine minutes to take the lead. But after that, the favorites increasingly let things slip. Jordan, who won their first game against Malaysia 4-0, got into the game better and better and caused Klinsmann’s team a lot of problems
Jordan turn the game around before the break
The underdogs turned the game around before the break with a double strike within ten minutes. First, Y.-W. Park headed the ball into his own goal after a botched save following a corner (37′), then Al-Naimat fired a powerful follow-up shot into the left corner (45.+6).
South Korea started almost furiously after the break and kept up the pressure on Jordan, but hardly created any dangerous scoring opportunities. Jordan defended deep and kept the spaces tight, meaning South Korea were mostly left with shots from distance – of the 14 shots the Koreans had at one stage, only four were on target for Abdulaila. Jordan produced virtually nothing offensively in the second half, and promising counter-attacks were no longer finished off consistently
Both teams in an excellent starting position
In the end, an own goal brought the equalizer: Shortly after the start of eleven minutes of stoppage time, Al-Arab deflected a shot from Hwang, which should have been saved, into his own net (90.+1). Hong then had a great chance to score the winner shortly before the end, but only hit the outside of the net from very close range (90.+9).
So it remained a draw, which puts both teams in a good position to reach the round of 16 on the final matchday – South Korea face Malaysia on Thursday (12.30pm), Jordan face Bahrain at the same time.
