2020 AFC U23 Championship: RoK beats Jordan, seals semis spot

The Republic of Korea (RoK) beat Jordan 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the 2020 AFC U23 Championship.(Photo: AFC)

Having emerged as one of the favorites to be crowned the champion, it took coach Kim Hak-bum’s stars only 16 minutes to score the first goal. A short free-kick was played into the box by Kim Dae-won and headed back across the goal by Jeong Tae-Wook, and Cho Gue-sung put the ball in the back of the net.

Korean players continued to press hard for an insurance goal in the second half. Kim Jin-kyu hit the right post with a free in the 52nd minute, and Kim Jin-ya rang one off the left post from close range in the 69th minute. However, it was Jordan who found an equalizer at the 76th minute.

Just when it looked like Jordan had done enough to take the game into another 30 minutes, the RoK had one final opportunity to snatch the win deep into injury-time when Lee Dong-gyeong won a freekick on the edge of the box on the 90+5 minutes.

With the result, the RoK will face Australia in the semi-final round.

Earlier, Vietnam, the tournament’s 2018 runner-up, was eliminated from the continental tourney after two draws and one defeat. The team lost to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) 1-2 in their last group game on January 16./.

VNA