Jordan upset South Korea 2-0 in their Asian Cup semi-final at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium where Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Taamari scored second-half goals to guide the Middle Eastern country into the final for the first time.
It was a fantastic performance from Jordan in the biggest game in the country’s history. Very much regarded as the underdogs, the men from Amman took a deserved lead through Yazan Al-Naimat early in the second half. Soon after, Mousa Taamari made it two with a beauty against a star-studded Korean side who never really got going and were well beaten.
Now Al-Nashama wait to see whether they face Iran or Qatar in Saturday’s final and on this performance, few would bet against them doing it all again.
Jordan started confidently with two shots on goal, albeit long-range efforts, coming in the first five minutes — strikes that had goalkeeper Jo Hyun-woo scrambling to move across his goal line. Not just going forward, but all over the pitch, Jordan looked very comfortable, with their press unsettling the Koreans who struggled to string passes together.
Their superiority continued and they came closer in the 18th minute with Noor Al-Rawabdeh forcing Jo to push away a shot from outside the area. Seconds later Son lifted the ball into the net above the goalkeeper but had been clearly offside. It was the first sign of threat from the Taeguk Warriors.
Jordan continued in the ascendancy and should have taken the lead after 26 minutes. Al-Naimat ran at the defense from a central position and suddenly it all opened up. The forward moved left and his shot drew a fine diving save from Jo, by far the busier of the goalkeepers. Almost immediately, Taamari fired just over as Jordan continued to dominate.
But then to the surprise of everyone, the referee gave a penalty as Yazan Al-Arab was adjudged to have brought down Seol Young-woo. —AFP
