VALIANT UAE ENTER SEMIS
The UAE goal keeper Mohammad Al Shamsi saved a crucial penalty to shoot out North Korea 5-3 via the tiebreak after both teams were deadlocked 1-1 at the end of regulation and extra-time in the Asian Games football quarterfinals match on Monday.
The UAE will now take on Japan in a lastfour clash on Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, North Korea drew first blood in the 63rd minute when Song You Kim put them ahead but four minutes later, Ali Al Yahyaee found the target to cancel the Korean lead.
The teams slugged it out for the remaining hour, including the extra time, as both teams failed to break the deadlock. Al Shamsi saved the fourth North Korean penalty kick before Rashed Musabbah found the target to exact sweet revenge for the UAE U23 team, who had lost to the Koreans in the last Asian Games in South Korea.
After losing their group matches, the UAE were in a tight corner but they qualified through Group C as one of the four best third placed runners-up.
In the knock out stage, they went past hosts Indonesia 4-3 after a shoot-out in the last 16 stage.
As the Junior Whites’s coach Maciej Skorza watched anxiously, Ahmad Al Hashmi began the shoot out well by slotting home the first one. Zayed Al Ameri, Khaled Al Dhanhani, Husain Abdullah and Rashed Musabbah all found the target for the UAE.
Yu Song Kim was the first to convert for the North Koreans, followed by Kuk Chol Jang and Un Chol Ri. Jong Hyok So was denied by Al Shamsi to win a place in the semifinals.
In another quarterfinal match, Tottenham forward Son Heung-min helped South Korea knock out Uzbekistan 4-3 in an extra-time cliffhanger.
The World Cup star, who is in Indonesia chasing a gold medal that would spare him a career-threatening spell of military service, produced a pair of smart assists for hat-trick hero Hwang Ui-jo before a late Hwang Heechan penalty sent the Koreans through.
While Spurs prepared to visit Manchester United in the Premier League some 7,000 miles away, Son was the driving force as the Koreans squeezed through to face either Syria or Vietnam in the last four. —