Australia and South Korea draw, Abdulatif gets record

DOHA - Title contenders Australia and South Korea played to a 1-1 draw in an Asian Cup Group C match Friday, while Ismaeel Abdulatif shot his way into the record books with four goals in Bahrain’s 5-2 win against India in the later game.

Koo Ja Cheol gave South Korea the lead midway through the first half, but Mile Jedinak headed a second-half equalizer for the Socceroos at Al-Gharafa stadium.

In the Al-Sadd stadium Abdulatif was in devastating form, scoring three before the break after Faouzi Aaish opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Gouramangi Singh had temporarily equalized.

Sunil Chhetri pulled one back for India after the break and Aaish was then sent off for a second bookable offence after taking a dive in the Indian area.

The 24-year-old Abdulatif scored his fourth in the 77th minute to join Iranian players Behtash Fariba (1980 during the 7-0 win against Bangladesh) and Ali Daei (1996 during the 6-2 win against South Korea) on four goals in a single game at the finals.

The results from Friday’s matches sees Australia top the group with four points on goal difference from South Korea. Bahrain are third with three points, while India have not yet got a point and are the second team in the tournament (Saudi Arabia was the first) to be eliminated from the competition.

Australia coach Holger Osieck, who said he would be looking for a more clinical finish from his strikers in their next game, added that they knew in advance that it would be a very tough game.

“We knew that it would be the most difficult match in our group,” he said. “The group is still very open. For us it is important to go through to the quarter-finals and then we will see what’s next. The teams in Group D are very strong and it makes no difference if you play the first or second team in the group.”

Striker Tim Cahill, who scored twice in Australia’s opening game 4-0 victory against India, accused South Korea of foul play.

“It was the kind of game where it did just not click. There were a lot of fouls and it is difficult to play against a team like that. I think we should probably have won today,” Cahill said.

South Korean coach Cho Kwang Rae said he could understand why Cahill would say something like that. “We pressurized them a lot and I am sure it was a difficult game for the Australians as a result.

“But we kept our chances of going to the next round alive and now we are looking forward to our next game against India. We have to beat them to make sure that we go through,” he said.

Manchester United midfielder Park Ji Sung, who received the man of the match award, said that he thought his side had done enough to win the game. “We played well and created chances, but we did not use enough of them.”

Australia warmed up for the match in white T-shirts with an appeal to donate money for victims of the Queensland floods and played in black armbands.

The Socceroos had a strong penalty appeal turned down in the 14th minute after Cha Du Ri pushed Cahill in the back as the Everton striker was going up for a header.

Much to the delight of the majority of the 15,500 fans in the 22,000-seat stadium, the two-time champions South Korea took the lead in the 24th minute when a long clearance from goalkeeper Jung Sungryong found Ji Dong Won in space and the 19-year-old played a ball across to Koo, who had plenty of time to select his corner.

The Australians drew level in the 62nd minute when a corner was headed on by Cahill to Luke Wilkshire and he played a clever pass into the middle, where Jedinak outjumped Jung and headed home to make the final score 1-1.