Jordan powered
past Son Heung-min's South Korea 2-0 on Tuesday to reach their first Asian Cup
final and a showdown with Iran or hosts and holders Qatar.
Playing in the
semi-finals for the first time and ranked 64 places lower, Jordan were full
value for their victory over Jurgen Klinsmann's shell-shocked side.
South Korea's talisman Son endured a frustrating night and his
country's wait for a first Asian Cup since 1960 goes on.
Jordan had more
of the chances and deservedly went ahead soon
after the break, Yazan Al-Naimat scoring his third goal of the
tournament after South Korea gave the ball away cheaply.
They had
been in a losing position in four of their matches in Qatar,
but there was no way back this time for the Koreans when Mousa
Al-Tamari sliced his way through the South Korean defence 13 minutes
later.
South
Korea simply could not handle the pace
and power of the attacking duo of Naimat and Tamari.
Son stood with his hands on his hips at the final whistle
in disbelief. Jordan fans were in the majority among the crowd of
43,000 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, a 2022 World Cup venue, and jeered and whistled
loudly whenever South Korea had the ball.
Jordan were
the underdogs - despite the teams drawing 2-2 in the group
phase - but they shaded an entertaining first half in
which they racked up 12 attempts at goal to South Korea's four.
On 17 minutes
South Korean goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo was forced into
a decent save from Noor Al-Rawabdeh after good work from
Montpellier's Tamari. Jo kept out a fierce drive from Naimat after
the South Korean defence opened up, before Tamari blazed
over the bar.
On the
half-hour referee Mohammed Abdulla Hassan from the UAE awarded
Klinsmann's side a penalty after a collision in the Jordan box
between Seol Young-woo and Yazan Al-Arab, but
changed his mind after consulting the pitchside monitor.
Lee Jae-sung pinged a
header onto the post - South Korea's first proper chance - then Naimat
slalomed his way through three weak Korean challenges before drawing
a close-range stop from Jo.
Hwang In-beom
skied a golden chance way over the
bar with just the goalkeeper to beat on the stroke of half time. Skipper and
Tottenham ace Son,
who scored the extra-time winner over Australia in the
quarter-finals, had yet to stamp his authority on the semi-final and his side
were behind on 53 minutes.
Park Yong-woo gave
the ball away, Tamari ran towards goal and slipped in Naimat,
who popped a cool finish over the advancing Jo. South Korea could not
cope with the rampaging duo and on 66 minutes Tamari drove
to the edge of the box before unloading past an exposed Jo.
Iran and Qatar play
on Wednesday for the other spot in Saturday's final.
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