South Korea are a match away from the final of the Asian Cup as they are so likely to prevail in a tough semi clash against Iraq on Wednesday.
It did not look pretty at all the way of the former World Cup semi-finalists to advance from the group stage, but Iraq are now the last hurdle in front of South Korea before they return to Jakarta for the final.
The East Asian powerhouse narrowly qualified for the knocking-out phrase after a 1-0 nip over Indonesia, as well as some luck from Saudi Arabia's win over Bahrain. But South Korean players are gradually getting to their forms.
With a fine tuned midfield, South Korea may be given more spaces to create scoring opportunities before rivals' mouth.
During a news conference on Tuesday, South Korea coach Pim Verbeek admitted Iraq is a tough rival, but held full confidence that his players will show their football to reach the final.
"They (Iraqi players) reached the semi-final of the 2004 Athens Olympics, they were in the final of last year's Asian Games and they were in the semi-finals of the Gulf Cup," Verbeek said at a news conference.
Meanwhile, Iraq have been up and down in the tournament so far. The team shone in a 3-1 win over Australia, but what followed was a drab goalless draw against Oman.
Though Iraq entered the semi-final, its 2-0 quarter-final win over Vietnam was far from an impressive performance.
Jorvan Vieira's team lost 3-0 to South Korea in a pre-Cup warm-up.
"We went to South Korea to prepare for the Asian Cup and South Korea smashed us 3-0 in very different circumstances," called back Vieira.
Iraq will play against South Korea in the semi-final at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Source: Xinhua
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