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Saudis peg down S Korea with penalty

Saudi Arabia's Autef Abdoh, left, battles for the ball with South Korea's Kim Chi-woo during their Asian Cup 2007 soccer match at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

A controversial penalty earned Saudi Arabia a share of the spoils as they drew 1-1 in a crunch Group D match against South Korea last night.

The game was held up for 25 minutes after a power failure plunged half the ground into darkness with just five minutes to play.

Choi Sung-kuk gave Korea the lead mid-way through the second half but Saudi Arabia equalized from the spot through Yasser Al Qahtani after a soft penalty awarded by Australian referee Mark Shield.

The Saudis caught Korea napping in the first minute and could have taken a quickfire lead but Al Qahtani headed well wide from Malek Maaz's left wing cross after he sprinted clear down the byline.

That explosive opening did not prove to be a taster of things to come, though, and the game quickly settled into an impasse.

Saudi Arabia broke that in the 25th minute with a lightning break after a Korean mistake in midfield.

They should have scored but Maaz greedily opted to shoot from a tight angle instead of squaring to the onrushing and unmarked Ahmed Al Mousa in the middle.

As the half wore on South Korea gradually took control and the end of the period was one-way traffic.

INEFFECTIVE

Saudi Arabia's players all looked comfortable on the ball and displayed some impressive skills but they were largely ineffective.

Korea's best chance came after 42 minutes when Oh Beom-seok created space on the right and crossed into the middle where big center-forward Cho Jae-jin produced an acrobatic bicycle kick, which Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Yasser Al Mosailem tipped over the bar.

Korea dominated the ball and possession after the break but the lively pair of Maaz and Al Mousa kept creating chances.

PEPPERING

Korea were peppering the Saudi box with crosses and on 66 minutes they made their dominance count.

Yeom played the ball from the left to the back post where the diminutive Choi out-muscled Osama Hawsawi to flick a header into the bottom corner of the net.

Substitute Lee Chun-soo, who replaced Choi straight after the goal, almost doubled the advantage on 75 minutes but after showing good control with his chest inside the box, he fired just wide.

Saudi Arabia rescued a point when Oh was harshly judged to have fouled Maaz in the box, with Al Qahtani sending Lee Woon-jae the wrong way from the spot.

Saudi Arabia should have won the game during injury time, but substitute Saad Al Harthi blazed the ball wide with only Lee to beat after a perfect through ball sent him clear of the defense.

LIGHTS OUT

The floodlight failure and hold-up was a major embarrassment for the organizers.

Shield immediately stopped the game and both sets of players moved to the side of the pitch as Asian Football Confederation officials huddled to work out what to do with a global television audience watching.

Korean coach Pim Verbeek and his Saudi counterpart Helio Dos Angos could be seen on the side of the pitch shaking their heads in bewilderment.

As the clock ticked and frustrations started to show, Shields conferred with match commissioner Tokuaki Suzuki of Japan and agreed to resume the game when some of the lights, but not all, came back on.
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