Agencies
Doha
Yazan Al Arab’s injury-time own goal gifted South Korea a 2-2 draw against Jordan in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 on Saturday as Jurgen Klinsmann’s side escaped with a point from their Group E clash at Al Thumama Stadium.
Al Arab put the ball in his own net to level the scores and cancel out Yazan Al Naimat’s goal in first half injury time, which had looked set to earn the Jordanians the win and secure a place in the last 16 for Lhoussanine Ammouta’s side.
Al Naimat struck six minutes into time added on at the end of the first half after Park Yong-woo’s own goal had wiped out Son Heung-min’s early penalty but Al Arab’s own goal means both teams sit on four points after their opening two group games.
“We expected a difficult game and we got a difficult game,” said South korean coach Jurgen Klinsmann, whose side need a draw in their last group game on Thursday against bottom side Malaysia to guarantee they reach the last 16.
“After the leading goal we took the tempo out of the game, which was not very good, and we lost a lot of one-on-one battles,” said Klinsmann, a World Cup winner with Germany as a player.
“Those are the games that you learn a lot from.”
South korea did not look like scoring for much of the second half but grabbed an equaliser when Yazan Al-Arab deflected Hwang In-beom’s shot into his own net in the first minute of injury time.
“It’s important to see that when things don’t work out how the players react,” said Klinsmann.
“That was what I was really pleased with.”
Skipper Son dismissed the idea that the pressure of trying to win the title after so long had got to him and his team-mates.
“There’s always pressure when you play for Spurs or the national team because everybody’s watching you,” the Tottenham attacker told beIN Sports.
“I always deal well with the pressure, I love the pressure.”
The Taeguk Warriors struggled to build on a strong start that saw Lee Kang-in threaten early and Son net from the spot in the ninth minute after being brought down by Ehsan Haddad.
A VAR check ensued before Qatari referee Salman Falahi pointed to the spot and Son dinked the ball over the line after Yazeed Abulaila had committed himself to the left.
The Koreans swept forward in the 20th minute and Son was denied a second at the end of a move that switched from one side of the pitch then back again.
Lee Ki-je’s cross-field ball from the left was gathered by Lee Kang-in who found Lee Jae-sung in space on the opposite side of the penalty area and his cutback was met by Son, who was prevented from scoring a fine team goal when his shot was deflected wide.
Mousa Al Tamari kept Jo Hyeon-woo on his toes at the other end with a left-foot strike the Ulsan Hyundai goalkeeper had to palm over the crossbar and moments later he was in action again, acrobatically pushing away Mahmoud Al Mardi’s effort at a free-kick.
Eight minutes before halftime Jordan’s growing pressure paid off with the equaliser, Park Yong-woo heading Al Mardi’s corner into his own goal with Al Arab lurking behind him at the back post.
The West Asians struck again deep into injury time when Al Tamari’s shot was blocked by Jung Seung-hyun and Al Naimat followed up with a scruffy strike from the edge of the area that bounced to the right of Jo and into the bottom corner.
Son saw a pair of shots blocked and Hwang In-beom dragged an effort wide before Abulaila parried Lee Kang-in’s strike from outside the area to safety as the Koreans sought the equaliser.
Danger lurked at the other end, however, for Klinsmann’s side with Nizar Al Rashdan forcing Jo into action 18 minutes from time in a reminder of the threat the Jordanians carried on the counterattack.
Oh Hyeon-gyu’s effort was saved by Abulaila but there was nothing the goalkeeper could do when Al Arab redirected Hwang In-beom’s shot from 20 yards into his own net in the first of 11 minutes of injury time as both teams had to settle for a point.
Jordan’s coach Hussein Ammouta was disappointed not to claim a famous win. “It’s normal to make mistakes at the start and end of the match because you’re talking about an excellent attacking team,” he said.
“What was important was that we played on a par with them. We spared no effort to try and preserve the result.”
South Korea meet Malaysia on Thursday while Jordan will face Bahrain.
