South Korea closes in on Asian Cup qualification
South Korea has found itself on the brink of securing a place at the 2007 Asian Cup on Wednesday after an 8-0 thrashing of Taiwan at Suwon World Cup Stadium.
As expected, the hosts — fielding a strong line-up including Premier League stars Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo and Seol Ki-hyeon — had too much game for the visitors, who are pointless at the bottom of qualifying Group B.
After South Korea scored twice in the opening four minutes, the game was no longer about which team would prevail, but how many goals South Korea would score.
Jung Jo-gook scored a hat-trick, Seol and Cho Jae-jin grabbed two each, and Kim Do-heon also got on the scoreboard.
The win keeps South Korea atop Group B with 10 points from four games, meaning coach Pim Verbeek needs just one point in the remaining two qualifying matches — at home against Syria in October and in Iran a month later.
It took the home team just three minutes to open the scoring and bounce back from the disappointment of conceding a last-minute equaliser to Iran in Seoul four days earlier.
Seol ran onto a long ball from Kim Nam-il and fired the ball home from just inside the area.
A minute later Jung headed home Song Chong-guk’s cross to make it 2-0. The game then settled somewhat before Seol added a second goal two minutes before the break, the Reading winger heading home a Kim Do-heon free kick.
Just a minute later, Kim Do-heon’s corner found Jung’s head to put the hosts ahead 4-0 at half-time.
After a series of near misses, Cho got in the action with a simple tap-in after 64 minutes following good work by Seol.
With 12 minutes remaining, Kim Do-heon scored a spectacular half-volley from 25 yards.
Cho grabbed his second and his team’s seventh from the spot after 83 minutes. Jung got his hat-trick with two minutes left in the game to make it a miserable night for the visitors.
Next summer’s competition will be co-hosted by Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Source:Soccer News
Related posts:
- South Korea held 1-1 by Senegal
- Golden boy Ahn the hero again for South Korea
- Ghana triumph over South Korea in Scotland
- Swiss send angry Korea crashing out
- Korea aim to scale Swiss mountain
- Team Korea marching on their stomachs
- Angola come up short in qualification quest
- Vacuum Cleaner of Korea out to suck up France
- South Korea learning to win the Dutch way
- World Cup survival match: South Korea vs Switzerland