DOHA: On a historic Tuesday evening at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Jordan defeated South Korea 2-0 to book a place in the final of the Asian Cup.
It was a fantastic performance from Jordan in the biggest game in the country’s history. Very much regarded as the underdogs, the men from Amman took a deserved lead through Yazan Al-Naimat early in the second half. Soon after, Mousa Taamari made it two with a beauty against a star-studded Korean side who never really got going and were well beaten.
Now Al-Nashama wait to see whether they face Iran or Qatar in Saturday’s final and on this performance, few would bet against them doing it all again.
Jordan started confidently with two shots on goal, albeit long-range efforts, coming in the first five minutes — strikes that had goalkeeper Jo Hyun-woo scrambling to move across his goal line. Not just going forward, but all over the pitch, Jordan looked very comfortable, with their press unsettling the Koreans who struggled to string passes together.
Their superiority continued and they came closer in the 18th minute with Noor Al-Rawabdeh forcing Jo to push away a shot from outside the area. Seconds later Son lifted the ball into the net above the goalkeeper but had been clearly offside. It was the first sign of threat from the Taeguk Warriors.
Jordan continued in the ascendancy and should have taken the lead after 26 minutes. Al-Naimat ran at the defense from a central position and suddenly it all opened up. The forward moved left and his shot drew a fine diving save from Jo, by far the busier of the goalkeepers. Almost immediately, Taamari fired just over as Jordan continued to dominate.
But then to the surprise of everyone, the referee gave a penalty as Yazan Al-Arab was adjudged to have brought down Seol Young-woo. After a video review, the decision was rightly overturned and then, soon after, Korea hit the post. Lee Kang-in crossed from the right and Lee Jae-sung, in a crowded area, headed against the foot of the post.
Al-Naimat came just as close in another counter. He cut in from the right, skipped past three defenders and his shot from the edge of the six-yard box hit Jo in the face and that was enough for Korea to stay on level terms. At the break, though, there was no doubt that Jordan had been far superior. The only negative was the lack of a goal.
Not for much longer. The deserved opener came eight minutes after the restart. Once again, Korea gave the ball away and this time were punished. Taamari found Al-Nazmat, who raced into the area and lifted the ball coolly over Jo. Korea have earned a reputation as the comeback kings in the tournament and reminded the men in white of that as substitute Cho Gue-song headed just over on the hour.
Jordan were not about to sit back and allow the Koreans to mount attack after attack and went looking for a second. It came in the 66th minute thanks to another excellent strike.
Taamari ran at the defense and the Montpellier winger sent a perfect low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. It was nothing less than the team deserved and they had one foot in the final.
Korea huffed and puffed but never looked like coming back as they did against Saudi Arabia and Australia. Jordan were just too good and now they are just 90 minutes from becoming champions of Asia.