Bahrain bow to South Korea in opening match of AFC Asian Cup

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain went down fighting to continental giants South Korea 1-3 yesterday in their opening match of the AFC Asian Cup. Kang-In Lee scored twice in the second-half to help lift the victors in the Group E contest, played at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.

Teammate In-Beom Hwang put the South Koreans ahead with the match’s opening goal just before the break, and then Abdulla Al Hashash equalised for the Bahrainis minutes into the second half.

Both teams had a number of other chances to add to the score line, but could not apply the finishing touches and the heavily favoured South Koreans came away with the full three points.

Bahrain will be looking to bounce back when they return to the pitch for their next assignment on Saturday against Malaysia at 5.30pm, Bahrain time.

That contest will be held at the same venue. The nationals then face Jordan on January 25 in their final fixture of the preliminary round.

The Bahrainis need to classify amongst the top two of Group E to earn an automatic berth in the tournament’s round of 16. Otherwise, they must hope to be one of the four best-ranked third-placed squads from the six pools in the preliminaries to advance.

The Bahrainis are one of 24 senior men’s national football teams in the AFC Asian Cup.

They are making their seventh appearance in the prestigious Asian Football Confederation (AFC) event.

Golden opportunity

Bahrain’s star midfielder Mohammed Marhoon had a golden opportunity to put his side ahead in the early minutes, but his header in the face of goal flew several inches over the crossbar.

South Korea forward Gue-Sung Cho also could have scored, but his effort at the half-hour mark went wide.

Ali Madan had another great chance for the Bahrainis in the 32nd minute after receiving a fine through-pass from Al Hashash.

But his ensuing attempt barely missed the target, coming inches from the left upright.

The South Koreans finally broke the deadlock in the 38th minute with some brilliant play.

A pass from Jae-Sung Lee from the left of the box was left by Tottenham Hotspurs star Heung-Min Son for Hwang to pick up on the right, and he made no mistake with his left-footed effort, firing into the left of goal.

Son could have made it 2-0 soon after, but his shot on target was calmly collected by Bahrain goalkeeper Ebrahim Luthfallah.

Play was physical between the two teams, with the South Koreans being shown three yellow cards in the opening 30 minutes alone, and Bahrain’s Ali Madan and Moses Atede also getting booked before the break.

Defender Amine Benadi also had to be stretchered off during the half.

Volley

After the re-start, a Komail Al Aswad volley in the 50th minute was saved by South Korea goalkeeper Seung-Gyu Kim.

But just moments later, Bahrain were back on level terms through Al Hashash.

He sent the ball home after a Marhoon strike was blocked and the ball rebounded directly into his path, needing only to slot it into the net.

Unfortunately for the Bahrainis, they found themselves trailing once again just five minutes later, when Lee hit a rocket from outside the area.

His strike bounced off the inside of the left post as Luthfallah had no chance of stopping it.

Lee then virtually put the game away for the South Koreans with his second goal in the 68th minute.

Operating on the right of the box, he evaded the challenge of Bahrain’s Waleed Al Hayyam and struck with his left foot into the bottom-left corner of goal.

Despite falling behind 1-3, Bahrain continued to press and Sayed Mahdi Baqer came close with a header that was saved by Kim.

Son also had a chance late on but his effort which beat Lutfhallah rolled past the outside of the right post.