AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Feb 7 – Jordan upset South Korea 2-0 in their Asian Cup semi-final on Tuesday (Feb 6) at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium where Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Taamari scored second-half goals to guide them into the final for the first time.
The result was a stunning upset for Jordan, who are ranked 87th in the world while South Korea are the third-best team in Asia, 64 places above them.
Al-Naimat had scored in the 2-2 draw when the two teams met in the group stage and the 24-year-old was once again the tormentor-in-chief with his nimble footwork while Al-Taamari’s tireless running also bore fruit.
In a goalless first half, Al-Naimat had the best opportunity to score for Jordan when he skipped past three defenders in the box, but his shot was hit straight at goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo who made a reflex save.
At the other end, Lee Jae-sung nearly opened the scoring for South Korea when Son Heung-min sent a cross into the box but the midfielder’s header came off the post to give Jordan a reprieve.
Yet Jordan finally found the breakthrough when Al-Taamari intercepted a poor back pass in midfield and found Al-Naimat with a defence-splitting pass for the forward to chip the ball over the keeper and score his third goal of the tournament.
Al-Taamari had been the busiest player on the pitch and he picked his moment to shine when he made a solo run past a static defence and curled his effort past the keeper to send Jordan’s fans among the 42,850 in the arena into raptures.
South Korea coach Juergen Klinsmann had no answer to Jordan’s press and fluid attacks as the German stood on the touchline stone-faced, watching his team exit the tournament without a single shot on target in the semi-final.
South Korea had made a habit of scoring late goals in the tournament but there was no comeback this time as Jordan kept them at bay to book their place in the final, where they will face either Iran or hosts and defending champions Qatar.
