South Korea played against Jordan in the Asian Cup in Doha on Saturday (Héctor Retamar)
Bahrain also had a slow start in their Group E opener, and South Korea avoided a major upset in the Asian Cup with a last-minute 2-2 draw against Jordan on Saturday.
A day after Iraq defeated tournament favorites Japan, South Korea needed an own goal in stoppage time to salvage a point after Jordan fought back early from a Son Heung-min penalty.
In the subsequent match in Qatar, Bahrain defeated Malaysia 1-0 with a goal in the 95th minute.
“We expected a difficult match, but it turned out to be a difficult match,” South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. The South Korean team needs a draw in Thursday’s final group game against bottom-placed Malaysia to secure a place in the last 16.
Klinsmann, who won the World Cup with Germany, said, “After the first goal, we lost the tempo of the game, but it wasn’t very good, and we lost a lot of one-on-one battles.”
“Those games are something you learn a lot from.”
South Korea are aiming to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years, and Son converted a penalty kick in the 9th minute that put the ball in front of the goal.
However, an own goal from Park Yong-woo and a goal from Yazan Al-Naimat gave Jordan the lead at half-time.
South Korea didn’t look like they would score in the second half, but in the first minute of stoppage time, Yazan Al-Arab deflected Hwang In-beom’s shot and put it into his own net, scoring the equalizer.
“It’s important to know how players react when things don’t go well,” Klinsmann said.
That made me really happy.
Captain Son dismissed the idea that the pressure was on him and his teammates to try to win the title for the first time in a while.
“There’s always pressure when you play for Spurs or the national team because everyone is watching you,” the Tottenham attacker told beIN Sports.
“I’ve always handled pressure well and I love pressure.”
– Goalkeeper’s Tribute –
Jordan, who beat Malaysia 4-0 and will face Bahrain on Thursday, are also still in a good position to advance to the knockout stages.
However, coach Hussein Amuta was disappointed not to achieve a prestigious victory.
“We’re talking about a good attacking team, so it’s normal for them to make mistakes at the beginning and end of the game,” he said.
“What was important was that we played as well as they did. We spared no effort to maintain the result.”
Coach Klinsmann was forced to make one change from the 3-1 win against Bahrain, bringing in goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo in place of Kim Seung-gyu.
Kim Byung-hyun suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during practice and will miss the rest of the tournament.
Son saved the penalty after a VAR check determined he had been fouled inside the area and celebrated by holding up a goalkeeper’s shirt with Kim’s name on it.
Jordan began to threaten and equalized in the 37th minute when Park played the ball into his own net under pressure from Arab at the back post.
Naimat then fired a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner in the sixth minute of first-half stoppage time, giving Jordan a shock lead.
Bahrain defeated Malaysia to earn their first point of the tournament and are in third place in their group. Ali Madan scored the winner just before the end of second-half stoppage time to keep them in the competition.
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