South Korea edges China to reach Asian Games men's football final

By Yoo Jee-ho

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea rallied past China 2-1 to move on to the gold medal in men's football at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday.

Lee Young-jun and Bae Jun-ho scored a goal apiece for the under-23 men's national team in the semifinals at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, some 140 kilometers west of the main host city Nagoya, as South Korea moved within a victory of winning their fourth straight gold medal.

In Saturday's gold medal match, South Korea will face either Japan or Uzbekistan, with those two teams set to play in the semifinals, also in Osaka, later Wednesday.

The final will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, some 50 kilometers east of Nagoya.

Wang Yudong scored first for China in the 22nd minute after fending off several South Korean set-piece opportunities. As Mao Weijie floated a pass toward the box from the middle of the field, Wang sprinted behind the napping South Korean defense and let the ball bounce off his chest before scoring off his left foot.

Lee pulled South Korea even with a header goal in the 33rd minute, set up by Eom Ji-sung's corner.

South Korea struggled against physical Chinese defense for most of the match and dodged a bullet when defender Kim Ji-soo nearly headed a Chinese cross into his own goal in the 79th minute.

Then in the 82nd minute, Bae netted the go-ahead marker for South Korea, with Eom once again being the setup man. Eom sent a well-placed cross from outside the left edge of the box, and Bae redirected it with his head for the 2-1 lead that South Korea did not relinquish.