South Korea bowed out of the Asian Cup in style by edging Uzbekistan 3-2 in an entertaining third-place play-off on Friday to secure an automatic place at the 2015 tournament in Australia.
Cho Kwang-Rae’s men looked on course for a handsome victory at 3-0 up in the first-half, but Uzbekistan clawed back the deficit to salvage some pride after their 6-0 drubbing by Australia in the semi-finals.
“I can’t be satisfied with third place in the tournament, but I do want to acknowledge all the sacrifices that the players have made,” said South Korea coach Cho. “They were extremely tired but they did their best.
“In the first half the performance of our team was very good, even excellent. But in the second half the players showed their fitness levels were almost zero and that caused a lot of difficult situations.”
Koo Ja-Cheol’s fifth goal of the competition, making him outright top scorer, set South Korea on their way, before Ji Dong-Won claimed a brace with a pair of artfully constructed strikes.
Goals either side of half-time from Alexander Geynrikh brought the Uzbeks back into the game, but Korea held on to claim third place at the continental showpiece for the third time in four tournaments.
Australia meet three-time champions Japan in Saturday’s final.
“I don’t know if it’s psychological, but the players made so many mistakes (in the first half),” said Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov.
“I told the players at half-time: everything you prepared for this tournament is at stake in the second half.
“And in the second half they played much better and even had a chance to draw. We just didn’t have enough time.”
Captain Park Ji-Sung was left out of the Korea squad to spare him from injury and Cho confirmed that he has decided to retire from international duty, praising his “remarkable job for Korean football”.
Koo broke the deadlock in the 17th minute at the Al-Sadd Stadium, calmly beating Uzbek goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov after Lee Yong-Rae had launched a barrelling one-man counter-attack from deep inside the Korean half.
Odil Akhmedov was partly at fault for the goal, allowing Lee Yong-Rae’s pass to roll beneath his foot, but the reluctant centre-back almost atoned with a 22-yard curler that landed a yard or two wide of the right-hand post.
Korea’s football has received plenty of plaudits during the tournament and Ji’s first goal in the 28th minute was a fine example of their craft.
A slick exchange involving Lee Young-Pyo, Ki Sung-Yueng, Lee Chung-Yong and Koo culminated in Ji receiving the ball in space inside the penalty area, and the 19-year-old striker rattled the ball into the bottom-left corner.
South Korean goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong was called into action by a low strike from Azizbek Haydarov before Ji claimed his second, a magnificent header from a Hong Jeong-Ho cross that left Nesterov clutching at thin air.
The Koreans were cruising, but an untidy challenge by Hwang Jae-Won on Olim Novkarov allowed Geynrikh to pull one back from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
The bald striker lashed his spot-kick home at the second attempt, after a daring chipped effort had been chalked off for encroachment.
Geynrikh’s second, seven minutes into the second period, was a delightful goal, as he leapt to bring down a left-wing cross before tricking his way past Lee Jung-Soo and beating Jung at his near post.
Re-energised, Uzbekistan drove forward in search of an equaliser, but it was Korea who came closest to another goal, with Ji’s low strike bouncing back off the post.
They are the current leading soccer tipsters in this month competition. See also tipsters rankings.
![]() |
JezQristus
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Algeria vs Niger 7 minutes ago |
![]() |
MrMax
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Slovakia vs Luxembourg 24 minutes ago |
![]() |
MrMax
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Italy vs England 24 minutes ago |
![]() |
betting1x2
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Italy vs England 24 minutes ago |
![]() |
MrMax
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Italy vs England 25 minutes ago |
![]() |
mbhanderi
posts a In-Play Asian Handicap tip on Portugal vs Liechtenstein 26 minutes ago |
![]() |
mbhanderi
posts a In-Play Asian Handicap tip on Slovakia vs Luxembourg 26 minutes ago |
![]() |
MEMI
posts a In-Play 1X2 tip on Denmark vs Finland 35 minutes ago |
![]() |
JezQristus
posts a In-Play Over / Under tip on North Macedonia vs Malta 41 minutes ago |
![]() |
JezQristus
posts a In-Play Over / Under tip on Italy vs England 41 minutes ago |
Upcoming football matches with excellent head to head records over their opponents.
|
Sign in to view more football matches.
Football clubs who play better for their home games H2H.
|
Sign in to view more football matches.
Football clubs that play well for their away games.
|
Sign in to view more football matches.
Motivated teams after winning five matches in a row or they have maintained a ten-match unbeaten run. The bookmakers label them as favourites for a reason.
Teams in crisis after five consecutive defeats or they did not win their last ten football matches. You should avoid betting on these underdogs.
Teams that have won all their home matches.
|
Sign in to view more football teams.
Teams that have not won at away matches.
|
Sign in to view more football teams.
Hi everyone, it's with super great pleasure to be part of SOCCERPUNTER betting platform , we get to learn and polish our betting skills as football lovers from all over the globe ?, we just got to watch the world cup out in Qatar , but I feel like SOCCERPUNTER is the World cup as well because we to get to compete against each other from different countries and it's very nice , we get to make friends as well. Thank you to the SOCCERPUNTER team as a whole for this such a good platform.
Best Regards
Vuyo
This tipsters ranking is based on single picks excluding doubles and multi accumulators. For the full ranking click here.
Tipsters with consecutive winnings in their recent predictions.
Tipsters whom have lost a few matches in a row. Bad luck you call it.
Before I joined soccerpunter, I had a huge addiction to betting and would lose my hard earned money in expectation of getting allot, I had little knowledge about making predictions based on research and wouldn't backtrack my recent bets cause I was only using local betting of issuing receipts, whc u could tear after a loss,..
But ever since I joined this soccerpunter family, all that is history and I don't lose any money, I have rather learnt to enjoy what was a "paid addiction" to a virtual reality which is costless. And due to that, am slowly learning the effects of gambling.
Thanks u soccer punter.
From as little as $1 per soccer tip.
|
Arbitrage is an effective way to make guaranteed profits without losing your money.
Analyze soccer matches, inclusive of past results, head to head stats, today match fixtures, live soccer odds, players and team form.
Check the latest and fastest live score results for all football matches. Know who are the goalscorers, yellow card and red card offenders.
Read up these useful tips for soccer betting.
Get the listings of soccer leagues and competitions for each region, including past seasons results and football statistics.
Want to bet on a match today? Check out the list of today match fixtures.
Read MoreGet the match results for all the soccer matches around the globe. Inclusive of half-time, full-time results.
Read MoreAre you an expert in soccer betting? Join SoccerPunter Tipsters competition to challenge against the top football tipsters and win prizes!
Read MoreCopyright © 2002-2020 SoccerPunter Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.
Be the first to comment: