Australia draw South Korea 1-1 in Asian Cup

Xinhua, January 15, 2011

Two Asian Cup favorites Australia and South Korea settled to a 1-1 draw in their second round Group C match of the 2011 Asian Cup here on Friday.

The 21-year-old promising star Koo Ja Cheol opened the scoring for the South Koreans 23 minutes into the first half. He lashed in his third goal of the tournament in a lightning-like counter-attack to sit atop of the scorers' list.

The Socceroos' equalizer came in the 61st minute when the Aussies' corner-kick made the opponents hurry-scurry in their area. Central defender Lucas Neill set up the ball from the far post and midfielder Michael Jedinak overjumped South Korean goalie Jung Sung-Ryong, who came out of the goal-line but failed to touch the ball, to head it home.

South Korea could have created a match winner with only 4 minutes left on the clock, but Ki Sung-Yueng's close range shot was denied by a wary Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer with a fine one-handed save.

During the warm-up period of the match, Australia was given permission by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to wear T-shirts with an appeal to call for donations for victims of the Queensland floods.

Black armbands were also worn by the players during the match to commemorate those who lost their lives. A minute of silence was observed before the kick-off of the close clash.

Also in Group C, Bahrain will encounter India in a later game. Enditem