South Korea secured qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with a 2-0 win against Syria in Group A of AFC Asian Qualifiers at Dubai's Rashid Stadium on Tuesday.
The win means South Korea have qualified for their 10th consecutive and 11th overall FIFA World Cup.
The first chance of the game fell to the Taeguk Warriors, with Jeong Woo-yeung receiving Lee Jae-sung's intelligent low through ball across the area from the flank, but Jeong's shot took a deflection and went out for a corner.
Syria appeared to have opened the scoring with 10 minutes on the clock, after Mahmoud Al Mawas' sublime delivery into the area was met by a marginally offside Omar Kharbin, his header past Kim Seung-gyu was ruled out following the VAR's confirmation.
Paulo Bento's men immediately attempted to hit back after that scare, with a double chance seeing Lee's shot blocked before Kim Jin-su, arriving late down the left flank, picked up the rebound and lashed a shot at goal but only managed to hit the side netting.
The next big chance of the game fell to Valeriu Tita's men, and came after Kim Jin-su's slow back pass was pounced on by the relentlessly pressing Al Mawas, who managed to get a touch on the ball before the Korean keeper could reach it but the ball wobbled its way past the wrong side of the post.
Kim Jin-su was once again the center of attention for all the good reasons, when he finally broke the deadlock with a goal that combined both full-backs: Kim Tae-hwan sent a beautifully weighted cross to the onrushing Kim, who headed in past Ibrahim Alma on the 53rd minute to make it 1-0.
With 19 minutes to go on the clock, second half substitute Kwon Chang-hoon doubled his country's lead after receiving a pass from Lee Jae-sung on the flank, before cutting inside and firing home from the edge of the box, with Alma standing little chance in front of the speed and swerve of the shot.
The loss means Syria have been eliminated, yet they still have two games to contend with the first coming against neighbours Lebanon in March, while Korea Republic will go into the next match against Iran, also in March, with the top spot up for grabs.
( With inputs from ANI )
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