Thu, May 27, 2010 page18

• ‘People’s Wayne Rooney’ stars for N Korea

  • REUTERS
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  North Korea forward Jong Tae-se, dubbed the “People’s Wayne Rooney” by Asian media, scored twice for North Korea in a 2-2 draw with fellow World Cup finalists Greece in a friendly on Tuesday.

  Greece twice took the lead, but were pegged back by the impressive Japan-based frontman.

  Kostas Katsouranis’s second-minute strike from close range after defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos headed a Giorgos Karagounis free-kick across the goal gave Greece the perfect start.

  But the Koreans, with their direct running and incisive passing making the pedestrian Greeks look embarrassingly one-dimensional, dominated the remainder of the half.

  North Korea skipper Hong Yong-jo twice rattled the crossbar and on 23 minutes Jong equalized with a superb long-range effort that went in off the underside of the crossbar.

  Greece’s sole threat stemmed from their set pieces, and after making five changes at halftime, they regained the lead through substitute Angelos Charisteas’s volley from another Karagounis free-kick.

  But Jong showed his class with a clinical finish moments later, controlling a long ball, skipping past Nikos Spiropoulos and then firing powerfully past substitute goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas to level again.

  Greece, who begin their Group B campaign against South Korea on June 12, struggled to make an impression in a disjointed display and coach Otto Rehhagel will be hoping for an improvement when they continue their preparations against Paraguay on June 2.

  North Korea are in Group G with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal.

  ■IRELAND 2, PARAGUAY 1

  AFP, DUBLIN

  In Dublin, the Republic of Ireland beat World Cup finals qualifiers Paraguay 2-1 on Tuesday in a match where the South Americans dominated possession but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.

  The Irish — who failed to make the finals in South Africa losing controversially in a two-legged play-off against France — scored both their goals in the first-half through Kevin Doyle and Liam Lawrence while there was a goal on his debut for Paraguay’s Argentinian-born Lucas Barrios.

  Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino admitted that were his side to make similar errors against world champions Italy in their group match at the finals they would pay dearly.

  “We are playing against the last world champions and we have to make sure we make as few mistakes as possible,” said Martino, whose side will also face New Zealand — making their first appearance at the finals since 1982, and debutants Slovakia.

  The Irish made up for lack of possession in the first-half by taking their chances, while the South American side looked pretty with the ball but did little when in front of goal, especially Barrios.

  The hosts had Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz to thank largely for their eighth minute opener, as the injury-prone Manchester City forward headed against his own crossbar from Damien Duff’s freekick and desperately tried to make amends by challenging Doyle, but the Wolves striker bundled it over the line.

  However, even with that early springboard, the Irish were unable to dominate the match as Paraguay put together some neat passing moves and provoked Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni into registering his dismay frequently on the touchline.

  The South Americans rarely, though, threatened Keirin Westwood in the Irish goal, with only Jonathan Santana’s long range effort going even close to the goal.

  And the Irish made them pay when Liam Lawrence scored near half-time as he ran onto Doyle’s chest down and rifled it home.

  The hosts almost made it 3-0 in the 51st minute as Duff saw a fierce effort repelled by the Paraguay ’keeper Aldo Bobadilla and veteran striker Robbie Keane failed to knock in the rebound, firing it high over the bar.

  This let-off seemed to energize the visitors and they pulled one back in the 58th minute with a nicely worked move as Jonathan Santana played a 1-2 with Claudio Morel, before teeing up Barrios, who made no mistake from just inside the penalty area.
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