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28

WORLD SPORT



Gulf Daily News Friday

23rd January 2015

M E L B O U R N E : 

South Korea’s 

golden boy Son 

Heung-Min struck 

twice in extra-time 

to give the Taeguk Warriors a 

2-0 win over Uzbekistan in a 

nail-biting Asian Cup quarter-

final yesterday.

The man dubbed “Sonaldo” 

by his team-mates scored with a 

diving header after 104 minutes 

and slammed home a 

second moments before 

the  final  whistle,  leaving 

on a stretcher with ex-

haustion as the Koreans 

set up a meeting against 

either Iran or Iraq in the 

last four.

“There was big pres-

sure on us,” South Korea coach 

Uli Stielike told reporters after 

coaxing his team of walking 

wounded to a fourth straight win. 

“If  we’d  lost,  we  would  have 

been on the plane home and face 

a lot of criticism.”

Injuries had already ruled out 

winger Lee Chung-Yong and 

midfielder  Koo  Ja-Cheol,  while 

superstar Son has yet to fully re-

gain fitness after being floored by 

a flu bug earlier in the competi-

tion.

“No other team has had to 



show such mental strength and 

sacrifice as our boys,” added Stie-

like. “To lose two of their leaders 

and still pick them themselves up. 

I nearly didn’t pick Son because 

of his illness - he’s still not 100 

percent.

“I told the players this morning 

that we are all human and every-

one  has  a  shitty  day.  The  prob-

lem is getting to 90 minutes and 

still being ready to push 

through. The boys played 

120 minutes and they 

were  all  dead.  Now  our 

biggest issue is medical.”

South  Korea,  World 

Cup  semi-finalists  in 

2002 but seeking to end 

55 years of hurt in Asia’s 

showcase tournament, had to toil 

for their victory against 2011 

semi-finalists Uzbekistan in Mel-

bourne.


Goalkeeper  Kim  Jin-Hyeon 

raced off his line to deny Sanjar 

Tursunov during the early skir-

mishes as Uzbekistan’s aerial as-

sault caused havoc in the Korean 

defence.


At the other end, Son’s curling 

effort was clawed away brilliant-

ly by Ignatiy Nesterov.

‘Sonaldo’ double 

sinks Uzbekistan

South Korea’s Son, No. 7, about to score his second goal against Uzbekistan



CANBERRA:

 Emotions are always 

high when Iran and Iraq meet on the 

football  pitch.  The  political  histo-

ry between the two Middle Eastern 

neighbours always provides both 

teams with added motivation.

Today,  the  rivals  will  clash  in  the  quarter-fi-

nals of the Asian Cup in Canberra and the stakes 

could not be higher but bragging rights are only 

part of the equation.

Iraq coach Radhi Shenaishil has warned his 

players to forget about who they’re playing, tell-

ing them that cool heads are needed with the big-

ger carrot of a semi-final against South Korea in 

Sydney awaiting the winner.

“There’s history between the two teams.” he 

said. “(But) I want to see a quality match. We are 

in the quarter-finals and we want to give the right 

impression of football in Asia.

“Both Iran and Iraq will be telling their players 

to have a quality game and forget their emotions. 

On the day, the players are there to do their duty.”

Both  teams  go  into  the  match  full  of  confi-

dence and harbouring greater ambitions of win-

ning the title.

Iraq defied the odds and the troubles in their 

war-torn homeland to win the 2007 Asian Cup 

and are hoping to repeat the fairytale run this 

time.


Struggle

They were expected to struggle in the pool 

stage  but  beat  Jordan  and  Palestine  and  lost 

narrowly to Japan to finish runner-up in Group 

D.

Iraq’s driving force remains Younis Mahmoud, 



their talismanic striker who scored the winner in 

the 2007 Asian Cup final against Saudi Arabia.

Mahmoud missed a penalty when Iran beat 

Iraq 1-0 in a warm-up played in Wollongong a 

week before the Asian Cup started and Shenaishil 

said he was expecting another tight battle.

“It’s not going to be an easy match between the 

two teams but hopefully we can produce some-

thing,” he said.

“They are a strong team. We’ve played them 

previously in a friendly. It’s good to play against 

a  strong  team  before  competitions,  to  see  your 

advantages and disadvantages.”

Iran have won the Asian Cup three times but 

not since 1976. It has been a long and frustrating 

run for Team Melli but things are starting to fall 

into place.

They are currently the highest ranked team in 

Asia and sailed through the pool phase without 

giving up a goal, although they needed a stop-

page-time winner to beat the UAE to ensure they 

finished top of Group C.

“This is exactly where everything starts,” Iran 

coach Carlos Queiroz said.

“We played against them in a friendly be-

fore the tournament started and I saw them play 

against Jordon and Japan.”

Emotions are high as Iraq take on Iran

Striker  Lee  Jeong-Hyeop’s 

header forced another acrobatic 

save from Nesterov five minutes 

after the break, but moments later 

Kim’s attempted clearance al-

most ricocheted into the Korean 

goal after cannoning off defender 

Kim Jin-Su’s backside.

The Koreans continued to 

press, a mazy run from Son tak-

ing him past three players only to 

be robbed by a last-ditch tackle as 

he prepared to pull the trigger.

An air-shot from Nam Tae-

Hee with the goal at his mercy 

added to South Korea’s frustra-

tion, though the Red Devils were 

lucky to escape when Lutfulla 

Turaev contrived to miss an open 

goal after 78 minutes after being 

picked out by Sardor Rashidov.

But  as  both  teams  began  to 

wilt, Son popped up to glance 

Kim Jin-Su’s dinked cross past 

Nesterov’s despairing dive be-

fore collapsing to the turf with 

fatigue.

Australia’s Cahill performs an overhead kick to score against China



BRISBANE: 

Tim Cahill said he was 

going nowhere after netting a stun-

ning double to fire Australia into the 

Asian Cup semi-finals yesterday.

The  Socceroos  talisman,  who 

scored with an outrageous bicycle kick and a 

trademark  header  to  see  off  China  2-0  in  Bris-

bane, rejected any suggestion he may soon hang 

up his boots.

“I’m  not  going  nowhere,  mate,”  snapped  the 

35-year-old  when  asked  about  his  future.  “My 

main focus is the next game - why look to the 

future about what’s going to happen?

“As old as I am, I keep hearing the same story 

about when am I going to depart. After tonight it 

will probably be a couple of weeks before they 

say it again.”

Cahill, Australia’s record goalscorer, said his 

overhead kick shortly after half-time against the 

Chinese was not as good as a sizzler he bagged 

for Everton against Chelsea in 2007.

Asked whether he had scored a bicycle kick 

before,  Cahill  said:  “One,  against  Chelsea  for 

Everton. I think that one was a bit better, but I’ll 

take this one today.”

Sublime

The  Sydney  native,  now  with  the  New York 



Red Bulls, scored one of the goals of last year’s 

World Cup in Brazil with a sublime left-foot vol-

ley against the Netherlands.

Cahill took his tally for Australia to 39 as the 

Socceroos bid for a first Asian Cup title, which 

could trigger a groundswell of interest in the 

sport  in  a  country  dominated  by  cricket,  rugby 

and Australian rules football.

His  acrobatic  opener  flew  past  China  goal-

keeper Wang Dalei on 49 minutes and in the 

65th, Cahill rose to glance a pinpoint header into 

the bottom corner from Jason Davidson’s cross.

I’m not yet done says Cahill

Iraqi men wave their national flag in the streets 



of Baghdad as they celebrate their team’s 2-0 win 

over Palestine on Tuesday



M E L B O U R N E :

 

Reigning champions 



Japan  have  cruised 

into the last eight of 

the Asian Cup but 

should face the first proper test of 

their title credentials when they 

take on the UAE in today’s quar-

ter-final in Sydney.

Inspired  by  midfielder  Omar 

Abdulrahman, the Emiratis were 

within a controversial stop-

page-time goal of topping their 

first  round  group  and  produced 

one of the performances of the 

tournament to thrash Qatar 4-1 in 

their opener.

They will have to be at their 

very best at Stadium Australia 

to beat the four-times champion 

Samurai Blue, who have looked 

unstoppable going forward and 

have yet to concede a goal in the 

tournament so far.

Japan  coach  Javier  Aguirre 

might  need  to  make  the  first 

change to his starting line-up in 

four matches in Australia after cen-

tral defender Masato Morishige 

took a knock on the head in their 

final group game against Jordan.

There are no problems up 

front,  however,  where  striker 

Keisuke  Honda  has  justified  his 

billing as Asia’s top footballer by 

scoring a goal a game.

Shinji Kagawa will also take 

a  confidence  boost  from  having 

broken a long scoring drought 

in the 2-0 victory over Jordan on 

Tuesday  which  wrapped  up  Ja-

pan’s group campaign.

Honda added the quick turn-

around  for  Japan  to  his  list  of 

complaints about the tournament 

but the Emiratis would be unwise 

to underestimate Japan’s determi-

nation to defend their title.

Japan set for 

tough UAE 



challenge

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