Lee puts Koreans in control

AFC  - Lee Chun-soo fired in the only goal as Korea Republic took a big step towards qualification for their fifth consecutive Olympic football finals with a crucial 1-0 away victory over Iran on Wednesday.

Having rattled the crossbar with a first-half effort, Lee got the breakthrough in the 61st minute as he received a through ball from Cho Jae-jin and sold an excellent dummy to defender Morteza Kashi before firing the ball past goalkeeper Seyed Rahmati.

Lee's goal was just reward for a solid performance by the Korean side who dominated the Asian Football Qualifiers Group A clash, played in front of 30,000 specatators in chilly conditions at the Azadi Stadium.

The Real Sociedad striker should have given the visitors the lead in the 40th minute as Cho's towering header found him in space in the box. Lee delicately flicked the ball past Rahmati which hit the underside of the crossbar before it was hacked clear by the Iranian defence. 

A strangely subdued Iran, without skipper Javad Kazemian who was absent due to his brother's death, failed to threaten until the introduction of substitute Ali Alizadeh midway through the second half added impetus to their attack. 

Ali Badavi should have done better with 15 minutes remaining when he ghosted around the back of the Korean defence but only managed a weak header that was easily handled by Korean goalkeeper Kim Young-kwang.

Iman Mobali then went close with an indirect free kick that flew just over the crossbar, and Kim Young-kwang bravely rushed off his line to deny Arash Borhani a scoring opportunity deep into injury time.

"Our team played badly," admitted Iranian coach Mohammad Mayelikohan after the game. "The players did not fulfill my expectations and did not do what I had asked them to do and that was the reason we gave in to Korea. 

"Now we must beat Korea in the away match in order to qualify for the Olympic games," he added.

Korean coach Kim Ho Kun was pleased with the result that puts his side firmly in control of the group.

"I am satisfied with what my players did. The Iranian players were physically superior to us but my players put my words into action as I had asked them not to engage in physical marathons with the Iranian players," said Kim. 

"We now have a good chance to finish ahead of Iran and qualify for the Olympic games."

The result put the Koreans on top of Group A with maximum points from two games. More importantly, their victories have come against prime group rivals China and Iran, putting them firmly in the driving seat to qualify for Athens 2004.