Mistakes costly but life goes on for Talebi

Beirut, (October, 23 - 2000)

South Korea and China reach Asian Cup semis
TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Oct 23 (Reuters)(DS) - Twice winners South Korea staged a great escape act on Monday to beat Iran 2-1 and reach the Asian Cup semifinals. China, in a far less dramatic match, beat Qatar 3-1 in the day's other quarter-final tie. South Korea will play the winner of Tuesday's match between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for a place in Sunday's final. China, who have never won the Asian Cup, will meet the winner of the Japan against Iraq match, also to be played on Tuesday, in the second semifinal. South Korean substitute striker Lee Dong-gook scored a 99th minute golden goal after Kim Sang-sik had levelled in injury time. Lee, who came on in the 75th minute, turned the ball into the roof of the net after a low cross from the right by Noh Jung-yoon during a quick counter attack. It was his fourth goal in the competition.

Midfielder Karim Bageri had fired Iran ahead in the 71st minute with a thunderous 30-metre shot that swerved into the top left corner of the Korean goal. With time running out, the Koreans threw everyone forward and their efforts paid off at the start of injury time. Kim thumped the ball home from 10 metres after Iranian striker Ali Daei failed to clear a corner.

MISSED CHANCES
The Iranians missed two great chances to win the quarter-final in the first three minutes of extra time. A Daei header went just over the bar then substitute Ali Karimi drove over from six metres with only goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae to beat. There were few chances in the first half although Iranian defender Mehdi Mahdavikia went closest to breaking the deadlock in the 37th minute when his drive from the left was pushed over by Lee.

The win by the World Cup 2002 co-hosts avenged a 6-2 drubbing by Iran in the first round of the 1996 Asian Cup. Iran have won the title three times.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Oct 23 (Reuters)(DS) - Twice winners South Korea staged a great escape act on Monday to beat Iran 2-1 and reach the Asian Cup semifinals. Substitute striker Lee Dong-gook scored a 99th minute golden goal after Kim Sang-sik had levelled in injury time. Lee, who came on in the 75th minute, turned the ball into the roof of the net after a low cross from the right by Noh Jung-yoon during a quick counter attack. Midfielder Karim Bageri had fired Iran ahead in the 71st minute with a hunderous 30-metre shot that swerved into the top left corner of the Korean goal. With time running out, the Koreans threw everyone forward and their efforts paid off at the start of injury time.
Kim thumped the ball home from 10 metres after Iranian striker Ali Daei failed to clear a corner.
The Iranians missed two great chances to win the quarter-final in the first three minutes of extra time. A Daei header went just over the bar then substitute Ali Karimi drove over from six metres with only goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae to beat. There were few chances in the first half although Iranian defender Mehdi Mahdavikia went closest to breaking the deadlock in the 37th minute when his drive from the left was pushed over by Lee. Hamed Kavianpour of Iran tussles with Yoon Jong-Hwan

A perfectly-timed tackle by Mohammadreza Mahdavi denied Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung from a clear shot at goal. South Korea started the second half strongly but could not penetrate the Iranian defence. As they appeared to run out of ideas the Iranians started to press. But after Bageri's goal, the Koreans stepped up the pace and substitute Lee tested Iranian goalkeeper Parviz Boroumand with a low shot from outside the box in the 77th minute. China play Qatar in another quarter-final later on Monday.

 

 

Iranian coach Jalal Talebi was left shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head as he watched his team throw away a place in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.

A defensive error in injury time by Ali Daei six yards from his own goal proved costly as it allowed Korean midfielder Kim Sang-sik to level the scores after Karim Bagheri had given Iran the lead with just 19 minutes left to go.

Substitute Lee Dong-gook then went on to score the winner in the 100th minute of the game to take the Koreans to the semi-finals for the first time since 1988, when they lost to Saudi Arabia in the final.

"The game should have been over after 90 minutes," said Talebi, who was Iran's coach at the World Cup finals in France two years ago. "We made one mistake at the end of the 90 minutes and we paid for it. Then it was very difficult to pick the players up for extra time.

"We missed a clearance in the six-yard box. It was a big mistake and they scored a goal. But life goes on. We have World Cup qualifiers in 35 to 40 days. We will work hard and we will try to do our best and we will try and make fewer mistakes.

"It's very difficult to say what goes on in the players minds but I think they were waiting for the whistle to blow. When you do that mentally you can take things just a bit easy. We made a bad mistake in a bad moment in a bad game. In 20 matches we haven't made such a mistake but we did this time and we've paid the price."

Midfielder Hamidreza Estili said the last-gasp equalizer knocked the fight out of the Iranians.

"In the second half we played well but when they scored in the last minute our confidence dropped," said the Pirouzi player. "Bagheri's goal was great and we knew we could defend the lead but when they scored it was very bad.

"Our problem is that our team doesn't play like a team. The tactics are not good, it's only the individual players like Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Karim Bagheri who take us forward. We're not good enough as a team, we don't train together enough."

Ali Daei agreed that a loss of focus had cost Iran the game, despite the quality of the Charlton Athletic midfielder's strike.

"Bagheri's goal was a wonderful goal, the kind of goal that deserves to win any game," said Daei. "But we just lost our concentration and it was not our day."