South Korea will face Qatar in Asian Cup quarterfinals
South Korean players celebrate after scoring their secodn goal during the AFC Asian Cup round of 16 soccer match between South Korea and Bahrain at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
UBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tottenham will be without Son Heung-min for a while longer after the midfielder helped South Korea reach the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup.
South Korea, which finished runner-up in 2015, is one of the tournament favorites but needed extra time to beat Bahrain 2-1 in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
It will face Qatar at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday after the 2022 World Cup host beat Iraq 1-0.
At the Rashid Stadium in Dubai, substitute Kim Jin-Su scored his first international goal right at the end of the first period of extra time to send South Korea through.
The defender, who had only come on 10 minutes earlier, netted with a diving header at the far post following Lee Yong’s cross.
Lee had also set up South Korea’s first goal with another cross after being picked out by a threaded pass from Son. Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Shubbar Alawi managed to push out the cross but it went straight to Hwang Hee-chan, who slotted it home.
Bahrain became the first team to score against South Korea in the tournament when it leveled 13 minutes from time.
Hong Chul managed to clear Mahdi Alhumaidan’s attempt off the line but Mohamed Saad Alromaihi slammed in the rebound.
Bahrain’s task grew harder when Alawi was injured toward the end of regular time. The goalkeeper attempted to carry on but eventually had to be replaced by Abdulkarim Fardan, who had never played a competitive international match.
Like South Korea, Qatar had not let in a goal in the group stage and it preserved that record against Iraq at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Bassam Al Rawi scored the only goal of the match in the 62nd minute with a free kick into the left side of the net.
Qatar had hit the crossbar early in the match though Abdelkarim Hassan.
Iraq could have ended the match with 10 men, but Safaa Hadi only received a yellow card for a poor challenge late on.
