Son strikes late to fire South Korea past Qatar
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 27, 2013
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Qatar's Hamid Ismaeil is restrained by the referee as he argues with South Korean players during the latter stages of their World Cup qualifier in Seoul yesterday. |
Son Heung-min scored in the sixth minute of injury time for South Korea to beat Qatar 2-1 in the final round of Asian World Cup qualifying yesterday.
South Korea's third win in five games kept it in contention to win Group A with three games to go.
Lee Keun-ho, the 2012 Asian player of the year, headed in the first goal in the 60th but Khalfan Ibrahim equalized for Qatar with a low shot from the edge of the area three minutes later.
In a first half that South Korea controlled, there was little hint of the drama to follow. Chances were at a premium in a match in which frustrations spilled over into a late brawl on the pitch.
The host continued to push forward for the win and was rewarded with virtually the last kick of the game as Son, who has nine goals for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, tapped home from close range in Seoul.
"The goal was set on a plate for me by Lee Dong-guk," Son said. "All I had to do was finish ... but it was great to get such an important goal."
The striker had been on the pitch for just 15 minutes.
Qatar coach Fahad Thani questioned the amount of injury time allowed by the Japanese referee. "There were five minutes of extra time but they gave six and it was a mistake."
South Korea has 10 points from five games, while Qatar has seven from six matches. Uzbekistan, on eight points, was playing bottom Lebanon later.
In Sydney, Australia was forced to come from two goals down to keep its bid to reach a third successive World Cup finals just about on track with a 2-2 draw against Oman yesterday.
The draw means Australia and Oman are locked together on six points, seven behind runaway Group B leader Japan, one ahead of Iraq and two clear of Jordan, which was meet Japan later. The top two qualify for Brazil in 2014.
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