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Bahrain stay alive thanks to South Korean sloppiness

Ismaeel Abdullatif scored a late and undeserved winner as Bahrain kicked life into their Asian Cup hopes with a 2-1 Group D victory over South Korea yesterday.

Bahrain had lost their opener against co-hosts Indonesia, but this win saw them move back into quarter-final contention and left South Korea rock bottom with a solitary point from two games.

South Korea coach Pim Verbeek made a couple of significant changes to the team that drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia, bringing in Lee Dong-guk and Lee Chun-soo for Cho Jae-jin and Choi Sung-kuk.

After the fireworks of the previous evening's Indonesia versus Saudi match, this was a tepid affair despite the best efforts of a hearty band of South Korean supporters.

Even an early goal failed to spark life into the game.

After only four minutes Bahrain failed to properly clear a free-kick and Lee Chun-soo turned the ball back into the box for Kim Do-heon to volley home left footed from 8m.

Trailing by a goal to nil, as things stood Bahrain were heading out of the competition. But even the desperation of their situation failed to evoke a noticeable reaction.

Their players seemed more interested in trying to win an Oscar for their dying swan impressions.

The game was played at snail's pace with South Korea, understandably, unwilling to commit too many men forward while Bahrain bizarrely seemed disinterested in taking the game to their opponents.

But suddenly, out of nothing, they equalized two minutes from the end of the half.

Mohamed Husain, formerly a trialist at Manchester City, lofted a free-kick from the halfway line into the South Korean box.

Unforgiveably, the South Korean backline was caught napping and failed to react until it was too late, allowing Salman Isa Ghuloom to run free onto the ball and shoot home at Lee Woon-jae's near post.

Five minutes from full time, Abdullatif ensured that South Korea were again punished for sloppy play.
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