Friday 5th September 2008
South Korea win friendly
Lee Chung-yong scored early in the first half as South Korea claimed a 1-0 win over Jordan in a friendly in Seoul on Friday.
With the rest of the teams in Group Two in action on Saturday in the opening round of matches, the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists took the opportunity to do a spot of fine tuning before the Shanghai encounter against their northern neighbours on Wednesday.
The Koreans could not have enjoyed a better start, going ahead after only five minutes against a team they played twice in the previous round of World Cup qualifying earlier this year.
Standing on the edge off the six-yard box, Lee headed home his first international goal off a Kim Chi-woo free-kick from the right to put the hosts ahead at a sparsely-filled Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The hosts could have added to the scoreline in the first half with Kim Do-heon of West Bromich Albion, Kim Chi-woo and Cho Jae-jin all going close.
The Koreans continued to dominate after the break but failed to make it count and were nearly punished in the final minute when Hasad Mohammad forced a fine save from Kim Young-kwang with a fierce half-volley.
Korea Republic are in Group Two which kicks off on Saturday with United Arab Emirates hosting North Korea in Abu Dhabi and Iran travelling to Riyadh to face Saudi Arabia.
