Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Muscat: Two goals inside the opening quarter of an hour from Baek Sung-dong and Hwang Ui-jo saw Korea Republic advance to the semi-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship after recording a 2-1 victory over Syria at Seeb Sports Complex on Sunday.
Baek set unbeaten Group A runners-up Korea on their way after just three minutes of the quarter-final tie before Hwang added a second for the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship winners just eight minutes later, with midfielder Yun Il-lok having a hand in both goals.
And despite Syria having won Group B ahead of the United Arab Emirates, DPR Korea and Yemen with an unbeaten record, Ahmad Al Shaar’s below-par side were unable to find a response to deny Korea a place in Thursday’s semi-final at Seeb Sports Complex until a stoppage time strike from Oman-based forward Mardek Mardikian.
“I am happy with the performance of all my players,” said Korea coach Lee Kwang-jong.
“In the first half the speed of my players was better than Syria and we gave them pressure higher up the pitch. In the second half they had to score and that’s why they came under pressure and we changed our system of having three forwards in response to this.
“It is obvious that our team is at a high level in Asia and if we play like we did today I am sure that we can win.”
Korea enjoyed the ideal start as Syria goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma could only parry Hwang’s close range effort from Yun’s pull-back and Baek was on hand to acrobatically bundle home his second goal of the tournament.
And Korea doubled their lead just eight minutes later as Yun cushioned Kim Young-uk’s far post corner back into the centre of the goal, and with a hesitant Alma unable to react, Hwang applied a close range finish to open his account for the campaign.
Syria, though, came close to grabbing a lifeline after 18 minutes but Nasouh Nkd Hle’s lofted shot from the edge of the penalty area came back off the face of the crossbar with Korea goalkeeper No Dong-geon left rooted to the spot.
But that did not stop Korea’s domination as Yun and Hwang came close to extending the advantage midway through the first half.
And with Syria struggling for any sort of foothold in the contest the pair again combined two minutes before half-time, but after collecting Yun’s slide-rule pass, Hwang could only shoot tamely straight at Alma.
Syria did come out stronger in the second half as first Hamid Mido was denied by No at his near post after 53 minutes before Nkd Hle curled an effort from a promising position just wide of the far post soon after.
Korea then went close to adding a third just after the hour mark as Yun’s low right wing cross seemed to have handed Hwang a simple tap-in only for Omro Al Midani’s deflection to take the ball off the waiting striker’s foot.
Both sides enjoyed chances in the closing stages, but with Korea goalkeeper No remaining largely untested, Syria were unable to threaten the two-goal cushion until a strike from substitute Mardikian five minutes into added time came too late to rescue the campaign for Al Shaar’s side.
“It was a difficult match, especially after Korea scored twice at the start. We told the players to play long balls, but the players did not stick to the plan and we conceded twice. I would also like to apologies for the goal at the end as it was not fair play,” said Syria coach Al Shaar.
“We played hard matches in the group stage when the players played well, but the players had enough time to rest over the last three days. The players simply lost concentration especially at the beginning when we conceded.
“Both goals changed my plans as we were under a lot of pressure from the beginning. Korea have a strong defence and we couldn’t score from the chances we had. We wanted to go further in this tournament, but unfortunately we have been eliminated.”