SEOUL: Palestine gave South Korea a major scare in an entertaining 0-0 away draw on Thursday as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time.
Making their debut in the third stage of Asian qualifying and 96 in FIFA’s rankings to South Korea’s 23, Palestine refused to be overawed for much of an open contest in Seoul.
Palestine play their home matches abroad, usually in the Middle East, because of the war in Gaza.
The local league has been suspended and many of the players are without a club.
Despite those obstacles, they thought they had taken the lead in the 22nd minute at the 66,000-capacity Seoul World Cup Stadium, only for the goal to be correctly ruled out for off-side.
The hosts, under their fourth coach this year with Hong Myung-bo, looked shaky at the back and were struggling to get their talisman and skipper Son Heung-min into the game.
Their best chance of an even first half fell to Lee Kang-in, but Palestinian goalkeeper Rami Hamadeh just about kept out the Paris Saint-Germain player’s well-struck close-range effort.
The Palestinians appeared to tire in the second half and were restricted to rare breakaways.
Lee was again guilty of missing a glorious chance when he shot wildly, then was denied with a 74th-minute freekick that Hamadeh tipped over the bar.
Oday Dabbagh then went close for the visitors on the break, before Spurs star Son rattled the outside of the post in the dying minutes.
But Palestine held on for a precious point and were good value for the draw.
Under their Tunisian coach Makram Daboub the Palestinian team have reached new heights this year.
At this year’s Asian Cup, they won a game for the first time in the history of the competition, defeating Hong Kong 3-0.
That put them into the knockout rounds of the tournament, another first, before going down 2-1 to hosts and eventual champions Qatar.
The squad trained in Malaysia for the South Korea game and will return there to prepare for their next qualifier, against Jordan in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, in what is nominally a home match.
They reached this stage of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time by coming second behind Australia in their group, winning two, losing two and drawing two of their six matches.
Palestine give South Korea scare in World Cup qualifying stalemate
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Palestine give South Korea scare in World Cup qualifying stalemate
- Making their debut in the third stage of Asian qualifying and 96 in FIFA’s rankings to South Korea’s 23, Palestine refused to be overawed for much of an open contest in Seoul
- Palestine play their home matches abroad, usually in the Middle East, because of the war in Gaza
Arsenal stay top as City apply the pressure and Liverpool resurgence continues
- City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest
- Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-placed Wolverhampton
MANCHESTER: Arsenal resisted a late fightback from Brighton on Saturday to keep hold of first place in the Premier League and stay ahead of Manchester City.
City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest, but when Arsenal beat Brighton by the same score later in the day, they returned to the summit with a two-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s team.
Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-placed Wolverhampton, who set a new Premier League record for the longest winless run from the start of a season.
Arsenal pushed by Brighton
Another set piece goal and another own goal kept Arsenal at the top of the standings — but they required an outstanding save from David Raya to deny Brighton.
Martin Odegaard gave Mikel Arteta’s team a 14th-minute lead with a low shot from the edge of the area. And when Brighton’s Georginio Rutter headed a wicked Declan Rice corner into his own net seven minutes into the second half, Arsenal were in control.
But nerves began to spread around the Emirates when Diego Gomez pulled a goal back against the run of play in the 64th minute. Yankuba Minteh then hit a shot that was destined for the top corner until Raya stretched an arm to push it away.
“Their goal changed the momentum a little bit and they pressed us toward the end, but we got the three points and that’s all that matters,” Odegaard said. “Lots of positives and still some things we can improve, but overall a good game and another win.”
Arsenal have become set piece specialists and in recent weeks have benefited from a slew of own goals, with Rutter’s the latest to prove decisive.
It was the fourth time in as many games an opponent has scored an own goal against the league leaders.
Cherki delivers for City
Rayan Cherki kept Manchester City’s Premier League title challenge powering on with a late winner at Nottingham Forest.
The France forward’s 83rd minute strike secured victory at the City Ground to make it six league wins in a row for Pep Guardiola’s team. City are on an eight-game winning run in all.
“Today is a big win,” Cherki told TNT Sports. “I’m proud of the team because this game is very complicated to win.”
It was Cherki’s second goal in three games and fifth overall. He also provided an assist with an intricate pass to Tijjani Reijnders to put City ahead three minutes into the second half.
Omari Hutchinson equalized for relegation-fighting Forest, which were holding out for a crucial point until Cherki fired through a crowded box for the winner.
Guardiola, who has won 12 league titles with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, looks like a man who believes his team is ready to regain the crown they surrendered to Liverpool last season. He joined in the celebrations with the traveling fans after the final whistle — acting conductor as they celebrated wildly after another win.
“When we won a lot of titles in Barcelona, Bayern Munich, here, you have a lot of games of this type,” he said. “The body language, how we celebrated, the connection with the fans is there.”
Liverpool win again
A fourth straight win for Liverpool and another sign that Florian Wirtz is finding his feet in England’s top flight.
Wirtz scored his first Premier League goal since joining the defending champions from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer and it proved to be decisive against Wolves.
Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead before halftime after Ryan Gravenberch had opened the scoring at Anfield, but Wolves halved the deficit through Santiago Bueno after the break.
“I was confident that I will score one day, but of course I wanted to start earlier, scoring and assisting,” Wirtz said. “It was like this and I have to accept it. I just know that it would come and I tried to keep going like that.”
After seeing their title defense unravel between September and November, Liverpool are now on a seven-game unbeaten run.
Wolves are on a very different run. After 18 rounds of the season the Midlands club have set a new low in the Premier League era — overtaking the record they shared with Sheffield United for the longest winless start to a campaign.
Schade leads Brentford rout
Kevin Schade scored a hat trick in Brentford’s 4-1 rout of Bournemouth.
Antoine Semenyo was on target for Bournemouth ahead of the January transfer window when he is reportedly a target for some of the Premier League’s top clubs, including Man City.
West Ham’s relegation fight was dealt a blow as Raul Jimenez scored in the 85th to seal a 1-0 win for Fulham, while second-to-bottom Burnley drew 0-0 with Everton.
