Iran pay penalty as Korea progress

Published: July 22, 2007, 12:46 pm

Tags: iran, asian cup semi final, korea

KUALA LUMPUR - Iran's hopes of a first AFC Asian Cup title in 31 years were dashed on Sunday evening after Team Melli were beaten by Korea Republic in a tense penalty shootout at a rainy Bukit Jalil National Stadium.The match went to penalties after a lively and physical quarter-final encounter between two familiar foes had finished goalless and goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae emerged as the hero for the Taeguk Warriors, stopping attempts by Mehdi Mahdavikia and Rasoul Khatibi to give his side a 4-2 victory.Korea, who face Iraq in the semi-finals at the same venue on Wednesday, avenged a 4-3 defeat suffered to the Iranians at the same stage in China three years ago.The two teams had also met in the quarter-finals of the previous two Asian Cups with the Koreans winning 2-1 in Lebanon in 2000 and Iran scoring a 6-2 win in the United Arab Emirates in 1996.Korea coach Pim Verbeek made two changes from the side that beat Indonesia 1-0 with forwards Lee Dong-gook and Yeom Ki-hun replacing Cho

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