South Korea beat Bahrain 3-1 in their Asian Cup Group E opener on Monday with Paris St-Germain’s Lee Kang-in rescuing his side with a second-half brace at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
With the score tied at 1-1 after goals from Hwang In-beom and Bahrain’s Abdullah al-Hashsash, Lee turned on the style with two lethal strikes that had the South Korean fans at the small 15,000-capacity arena screaming in delight.
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A stop-start encounter witnessed plenty of fouls in the first half and although there was no malice in the challenges, South Korea had three players on yellow cards in the first half hour – including centre back Kim Min-jae.
The Korean fans had seen enough to start booing the referee whenever he kept his cards in his pocket for a foul from Bahrain and the pressure paid off when Ali Madan went into the book for a tough challenge. Madan was clearly on his mettle and the winger nearly broke the deadlock moments later when he was put through on goal, but his shot directed at the top corner narrowly missed the target.
But South Korea then took the lead through a quick, flowing move down the left wing where the ball was crossed into the box and Hwang curled home through a crowd of Bahrain defenders, two of whom ran into each other while tracking back.
Bahrain came out fighting in the second half and they were duly rewarded six minutes in when Hashsash found space in the box and slotted home into the bottom corner. However, South Korea were not deterred and the east Asian side restored their lead five minutes later through Lee, who pulled the trigger from outside the box and saw his superb effort curl into the net.
The PSG playmaker doubled his tally soon after when he received the ball inside the box from Hwang, escaped his marker with some quick feet and showcased some panache as he curled another shot past the keeper inside the far post. His second took him joint-top of the tournament’s scoring charts alongside Qatar’s Akram Afif and Japan’s Takumi Minamino.
The South Korea captain, Son Heung-min, had a late opportunity to score when he was released into the box but his shot went wide while the Tottenham forward was also booked for simulation later when he attempted to win a penalty.
Jordan’s Mahmoud Al-Mardi put his hand up for an early contender for goal of the tournament when he put his side en route to a 4-0 win over Malaysia,
The winger unleashed a shot from outside the box that floated over the keeper and into the top corner at the far post. Musa Al-Taamari doubled their lead from the spot after a penalty was awarded for a foul on Yazan Al-Naimat following a VAR review. Al-Mardi made it 3-0 when he scored his second from a tap-in after being set up by Al-Naimat. Al-Taamari grabbed his second when he lobbed the keeper in the 85th minute to complete the rout.
Like Malaysia, Indonesia were making their return to the Asian Cup for the first time since 2007 and they were able to hold their own against Iraq for 45 minutes, before they ran out of gas in the second half and lost 3-1.
Iraq’s Mohanad Ali scored first when he was through on goal with just the keeper to beat but Marselino Ferdinan equalised after some fine work form Yakob Sayuri, who skipped past a challenge and crossed the ball into the six-yard box for an easy goal.
However, Iraq burst Indonesia’s bubble late in added time just before the interval when Osama Rashid scored from close range after the keeper spilled a save. Substitute Aymen Hussein then won a header in the 75th minute and volleyed home from the edge of the six-yard box to make it 3-1.
Iraq are second in Group D behind four-times champions Japan, who beat Vietnam 4-2 on Sunday.
