Korea score last minute goal to qualify for London Olympics
PETALING JAYA: With two seconds left in the final of the FIH Road to London tournament in Dublin, South Korea’s Lee Nam-yong scored the winning goal to send his team to the 2012 Olympic Games.
The Koreans defeated Ireland 3-2 to book their berth as the luck of the Irish finally ran out.
Nam-yong’s goal was the dramatic conclusion to a nail-biting, backand-forth match. The pressure was on the Koreans as they were the favourites, being sixth in the FIH world rankings compared to Ireland’s 16th.
But the Irish have proven to be tough opponents all week as Malaysia discovered in the 1-1 draw that knocked them out of the final. Ireland also tied the Koreans in the earlier round robin meeting, 1-1.
Ireland’s Peter Caruth gave his team an early boost when he was in perfect position to put in a rebound on a penalty corner to give them the lead in the 13th minute.
But Nam-yong slipped one in under Irish goalkeeper David Harte and levelled the game at 1-1 in the 30th minute.
The Koreans dominated the opening of the second half as the ball stayed primarily in the Irish half of the pitch.
Timothy Cockram, who finished as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, put in the go-ahead marker in the 56th minute firing the ball past Lee Myung-ho to give Ireland the lead again.
But once again, the Koreans came back strongly as, barely two minutes later, they received a penalty stroke. Nam Hyun-woo calmly converted to equalise at 2-2.
It looked like the game was heading into extra-time when the clock was stopped with nine seconds left deep in the Irish end. The Korean’s took full advantage of the precious last chance and stunned the sell-out crowd when the ball was fired in with two seconds showing on the clock.
The Irish protested Nam-yong’s goal but the video review saw the goal being allowed and the Koreans were on the way to the Olympics.