Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Muscat: Korea Republic will face Syria in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship after second half goals from Kim Kyung-jung and Yun Il-lok secured a 2-0 win over Oman on Wednesday at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex to end the campaign of the tournament hosts.
Following a goalless first half, Kim Kyung-jung’s diving header broke the deadlock to silence the 6,000 crowd with Oman needing to win following Monday’s defeat by Jordan.
And despite 2014 FIFA World Cup hopeful Yun netting his second goal in as many games, unbeaten Korea were forced to settle for a runner-up finish in Group A after Jordan beat Myanmar 6-1 to top the table on goal difference.
“The players showed their best efforts, and although the first half was not good, the second half was much better and I am satisfied,” said Korea Republic coach Lee Kwang-jong.
“We wanted to have a more stable defence in the first half, but in the second half we played more aggressively and that was the difference.
“After we scored we continued to attack as we had a lot of energy and Oman was losing stamina.
“We now have three days to prepare for the next match and we will make sure we are prepared.”
Both sides showed plenty of attacking intent from the first whistle, but a lack of quality in the final third saw neither goalkeeper called into serious action.
The best chances of an entertaining, albeit goalless first half, fell to Sami Al Hasani in the closing stages of the opening 45 minutes as the Oman striker was first inches from applying a decisive touch inside the penalty area before his rising strike was deflected over the crossbar by a team-mate.
But following the quiet first half, Korea twice came close to a breakthrough just after the restart as Kim Hyun first drew a full length diving save from Oman goalkeeper Mazin Al Kasbi after barely 15 seconds before the striker sent a towering header from Kim Young-uk’s cross narrowly over the crossbar just over a minute later.
And two minutes after the hour mark Korea opened the scoring as France-based forward Kim Kyung-jung met Kim Young-uk’s inviting right wing cross with a diving header from point-blank range which gave Al Kasbi no chance.
Needing to win to keep their tournament alive, Oman came close to an instant response as Al Hasani’s angled strike following a determined run was smothered by Korea goalkeeper No Dong-goen at his near post.
But with 10 minutes remaining Yun made sure of the win as the FC Seoul midfielder slid home another Kim Young-uk cross from inside the six yard area as the 2013 AFC Champions League finalist added to his goal from Monday’s 3-0 win over Myanmar to seal an end to Oman’s campaign.
“We did our best. For one hour we believed we could do something. We had chances to score in the first half but we didn’t score. At this high level you will be made to pay for small mistakes,” said Oman coach Philippe Burle.
“Against a strong team if we scored in the first half we could have changed the result, but after one hour it was difficult to comeback as physically it was too hard for us.
“The players did their best as they were totally exhausted at the end.”