South Koreans forced to wait for qualification after being frustrated by Iran
▶ Draw leaves it to shoot-out with Uzbekistan
South Korea squandered a chance to book their spot at next year’s World Cup finals on Thursday after a 0-0 draw with 10-man Iran left their qualification hopes precariously balanced.
With Uzbekistan losing 1-0 in China, the Koreans would have sealed Group A’s second automatic berth for Russia but could find no way past an impregnable Iran, who have not conceded a goal in 12 straight World Cup qualifiers dating back to November 2015.
Korea’s Jang Hyun-soo came closest to breaking the deadlock in the 19th minute at a heaving Seoul World Cup Stadium when his glancing header from inside the six-yard box dropped inches wide of goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand’s left-hand post.
Korea’s wide man Son Heung-min, who fractured his forearm in June, was given little time or space by Iran’s defence.
Iran, who have qualified as group winners to reach the finals for the fifth time in their history and third time in the past four tournaments, were happy to cede possession to the home side and invited pressure, hoping to punish Korea on the counter-attack.
The game took a nasty turn in the 50th minute when Iran’s Saeid Ezatolahi was shown a red card for stamping on the head of Korean defender Kim Min-jae.
With the man advantage and some 60,000 fans roaring them on, the Koreans threw men forward in search of the winner that would also clinch a place in Russia.
South Korea, however, could not take advantage of their extra man and wasted another free-kick opportunity in the 78th minute, when Kwon Chang-Hoon’s left-footed shot from outside the right edge of the box sailed over the bar, and Iran held firm until the final whistle.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said the match was a “beautiful football fight” and praised his players for digging in to achieve a share of the spoils after being reduced to 10 men.
Queiroz, who has guided Iran
to back-to-back World Cup finals, added that he had been impressed with the Koreans and had even asked for Son’s shirt.
Shin Tae-yong, who was taking charge of Korea for the first time since replacing the fired Uli Stielike in July, was confident his side would take second place when the group stages reach their conclusion on Tuesday.
“I thought it would be difficult for us tonight if we if we lost the first goal, so we played carefully rather than aggressively,” Shin told reporters. “I think that strategy worked OK.
“We had prepared for this game with no other thought than to win, so we’ll do the same for Uzbekistan.”
The result leaves Korea in second place on 14 points behind Iran, with Syria and Uzbekistan tied for third on 12.
Omar Kharbin struck twice as Syria gave their 2018 World Cup dreams a huge boost with a 3-1 win over Qatar in Melaka, Malaysia in their qualifier.
The result propelled Syria, forced to play all their home games in Malaysia because of the civil war back home back into contention to qualify automatically for Russia.
Syria made their intentions clear early on and Kharbin gave his side the lead with his seventh-minute strike, a swerving finish past the outstretched arms of Saad Al Sheeb after the Qatar defence failed to close him down.
Ten minutes before halftime, Qatar levelled the scores through midfielder Ali Asadallah, who netted from close range after converting a cross from captain Hassan Al Haydos.
After the restart, Kharbin made it 2-1 when he ran on to a through ball from Mahmoud Al Maowas before finishing from a tight angle. Al Maowas then completed the scoring with a strike of his own after a quick counter attack in added time after the 90 minutes.
The Koreans travel to Tashkent to play Uzbekistan in their final qualifier on Tuesday with a victory for either side likely to earn the second spot.
Syria must beat Iran in Tehran to have any chance of the automatic berth.
The third-placed teams in each of the two Asia groups play each other in a two-legged playoff in October with the aggregate winner facing the fourthplaced team from the Central and North America qualifying in November.