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Sports
12/07/2007
Korea and Saudi Arabia share draw
Saudi Arabia captain Yasser Al Qahtani scored from the penalty spot 13 minutes from time to earn his side a 1-1 draw with Korea Republic in their opening AFC Asian Cup encounter on Wednesday evening.
The Al Hilal hit man struck after Australian referee Mark Shield awarded a debatable penalty when Malek Maaz was adjudged to have been fouled by Oh Beom-seok, cancelling out Choi Sung-kuk’s 66th minute opener.
Choi had beaten Saudi defender Kamil Al Mousa to Yeom Ki-hun’s cross from the left before heading beyond Yasser Al Mosailem to give the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists the lead.
But the game was marred when, five minutes from time, a power failure in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium saw play stopped for almost 25 minutes before what was left of the game was played out.
It was a chaotic end to a game that had started with the Saudis giving the Korean defence a major fright with less than a minute on the clock.
Malek Maaz’s pace saw him sear down the left before firing in a cross that was the perfect height for Al Qahtani, but the Al Hilal man could only glance his header across the face of goal.
That was an early wake-up call for the Koreans and from there the half became an intriguing midfield battle.
Choi had a lively start with his speed and trickery keeping the Saudi defence on their toes while at the other end a break through midfield by Ahmed Al Mousa in the 25th minute set up Maaz, but his shot was bundled round the post by Lee Woon-jae.
Cho Jae-jin threatened with a header two minutes later before almost claiming he spectacular opener three minutes ahead of the break when his overhead attempt following Oh Beom-seok’s cross was tipped over the bar by Al Mosailem.
With barely seconds left in the half Al Mosailem was called into action again when Kim Chi-woo fired in a low shot which bounced in front of the Al Ahli goalkeeper, who used his legs to clear.
Maaz continued to look the Saudi most likely to score in the second half when, seven minutes after the restart he capitalised on an error by Oh to take possession 35 yards from goal, only to fire off a shot that went just wide.
Cho saw his header from Yeom’s free kick go just wide six minutes later before Choi gave the Koreans the lead in the 66th minute.
Al Mousa was caught ball watching as Yeom’s centre came in from the left and the Seongnam Ilhwa man crashed his header beyond the reach of Al Mosailem.
The goal was Choi’s last contribution to the game as he made way for Lee Chun-soo immediately after the restart, but it took the Saudis only 11 minutes to pull level.
Maaz was confronted by Oh just inside the penalty area and, as he tried to go round the Pohang Steelers midfielder, the Al Ahli man went to the ground and Shield pointed to the spot.
From there, Al Qahtani – who had been virtually anonymous throughout the game – sent Lee the wrong way to earn the Saudis a point before the stadium was plunged into darkness.
When the game resumed, Saad Al Harthi fired off a long-range attempt in the first minute of injury that Lee did well do save while seconds later he had another chance to win the game for Saudi, only to hit the side netting.
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