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S. Korea ekes out draw against Lebanon in World Cup qualifier
South Korea pulled out a 1-1 draw against Lebanon in the Asian World Cup qualifier here on Tuesday, a result that kept alive its hopes for an automatic qualification for the quadrennial tournament next year.
At Sports City Stadium in Beirut, Kim Chi-woo scored on a free kick in injury time for the dramatic draw, as South Korea avoided a stunning loss to the heavy underdog in the final Asian round of the qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The draw moved South Korea to the top of Group A with 11 points after six games. Uzbekistan also has 11 points after the same number of games, but South Korea holds the edge in goal difference, plus-6 to plus-2.
Iran, which defeated Qatar 1-0 earlier Tuesday, has 10 points.
Qatar has seven points and Lebanon has five at the bottom of the group.
This was the first of three qualifiers for South Korea in June.
South Korea will host Uzbekistan in Seoul next Tuesday and then Iran in Ulsan, about 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 18 for the finale.
Only the top two countries from the group will automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup. South Korea is seeking its eighth consecutive World Cup appearance.
The third-place team will meet the No. 3 seed from Group B in a playoff, and the winner of that match will move on to face a team from South America in the final international playoff.
Lebanon was only moments away from upsetting South Korea.
Forward Hassan Maatouk scored early in the first half, and the physical Lebanon defense, coupled with a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Abbas Hassan in net, kept the visitors at bay for most of the match.
In injury time, Kim finally thwarted Hassan, as his curling free kick was deflected off the wall of Lebanese players and sailed past the helpless goalkeeper.
South Korea hit the goal post three times before Kim's goal.
Lebanon drew first blood in the 12th minute, as Maatouk capitalized on the sloppy South Korean defense. After a quick corner caught the defenders off guard, Mohamad Haidar set up Maatouk deep in the box for a rolling shot past Jung Sung-ryong in the Korean net.
South Korea started out slowly and only came to life midway through the first half. In the 22nd, Lee Chung-yong hit the right goal post and Lee Dong-gook's shot off the rebound was cleared out by the defender Youssef Mohamad.
Nine minutes later, Lee Chung-yong had another close chance to equalize, but goalkeeper Abbas Hassan punched out the Korean's header.
Hassan made another major save in the 33rd minute, keeping Kim Chi-woo's curling free kick just out of the net.
A minute from half-time, Kim Bo-kyung flicked a pass to find Lee Dong-gook open on the right side of the box, but the striker airmailed the shot over the crossbar.
Hassan kept foiling South Korean chances in the second half.
Lee Chung-yong went in alone on the Lebanese keeper in the 53rd, only to be denied for the second time in the match. In the 65th, Hassan grabbed Lee Dong-gook's header from the point-blank range following a South Korean corner. Three minutes later, Hassan came up with a diving save on Lee Chung-yong's low, hard shot.
South Korean captain Kwak Tae-hwi headed a corner off the left goal post in the 71st minute. Lee Dong-gook hit another post in the 80th, after Hassan made another huge save on Kwak's header.
South Korea kept knocking on the door, ultimately to no avail.
Son Heung-min, a second-half sub, fanned on a loose ball in a wide open chance right in front of Hassan in the 83rd. In the next minute, Lee Dong-gook fired one just wide of the left post from inside the arc.
Lebanon almost went up by two goals in the 77th. Abbas Atwi passed for the charging Mohamad Tahan up the middle, but his low shot rolled just wide of the left post.
It was all South Korea in the final 15 minutes of the match, and Hassan kept frustrating South Koreans until the visitors finally caught a break on Kim's equalizer.
Choi Kang-hee, the South Korean head coach, said after the game he takes full responsibility for the disappointing result.
"Whenever the team loses or plays a poor game, it all falls on the head coach," he said. "Our players fought hard until the end to win. Unfortunately, we didn't get the result we wanted, but we have to accept it. We trailed for more than 90 minutes in this game, but we have to move on quickly."
Choi said South Korea was forced to play catch-up after giving up the early goal, and that threw the players off their initial game plan.
"We wanted to concentrate hard on offensive chances and score the first goal," Choi said. "But nothing went our way. We will have to go back to the drawing board and analyze our mistakes before the next two home games." (Yonhap News)
