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Cruising China breezes past Indonesia 4-0 in Asian Cup
Updated: Monday October 16, 2000 3:56 PM
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) -- China and Kuwait look very much in, while South Korea could be on the way out from the Asian Cup. China virtually booked a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup by crushing Indonesia 4-0, while Kuwait edged South Korea 1-0 with a determined defensive effort Monday. In the final Group B round, China and Kuwait will battle on Thursday for first place in the pool. Both have four points. Kuwait, which struggled to a 0-0 draw against Indonesia in its opening match, bounced back against a disorganized South Korean team, which must beat Indonesia by a hefty margin to retain any hopes of advancing. China stormed to a 3-0 lead by the 10th minute and the contest was virtually over before the sparse crowd at the beachfront stadium in this northern Lebanese city had settled into the seats. The onslaught began in the second minute when midfielder Li Ming headed in a cross from the right. In the seventh, China earned a penalty after a foul by Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto on Eintracht Frankfurt striker Yang Cheng. Midfielder Shen Si converted the penalty for a 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, Yang headed in a cross from the left for the third goal. With one minute remaining in the game, substitute midfielder Qi Hong capitalized on a bad half-clearance to drive home from close range. "I am happy with the win and we'll try to place first in the group," said China's Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic. "We performed very well. We scored early and my plan was intelligent. We've already qualified regardless of other groups. All that remains is out position in the group," he said. Milutinovic's game plan was simple: piercing attacks on the flanks, then crosses into the penalty area, where they were easy prey for the taller, stronger Chinese forwards. It worked with devastating efficiency and China could have won by a lot bigger margin. Indonesia could not repeat the performance it produced aganist Kuwait. "We know we were outclassed but the three goals put us down early and we conceded them so early because some of the players were not performing to the top of their ability," said Indonesia's coach Nandar Iskandar. Kuwait chose to let South Korea keep most of the possession, relying on the speed of midfielder Nasser Othman and the finishing of Jassem Al Houwaidi to create chances off counterattacks. The tactic worked. While South Korea spent most of the time in the Kuwaiti half, Kuwait had the best opportunities. In the 39th, striker Bashar Abdullah slipped a good pass to Al Howaidi at the edge of the area, the striker turned around a South Korean defender and placed a low shot past the goalkeeper for the 1-0 Kuwaiti lead. Al Houwaidi is the top Kuwaiti league striker. Nothing changed after the interval, with South Korea pressing forward but finding few openings. In the 74th, a good through ball by Lee Young-pyo launched Lee Dong-gook, but the Kuwaiti goalkeeper Falah Dabshah made a brave forward dive to deny the striker. Lee came close twice more in the waning minutes, but first his volley was deflected and then Dabshah saved his header of a corner. In the final minute, a deep pass by Yoon Jong-Hwan found Lee Young-pyo, who controlled the ball with his chest but shot high. South Korea, usually one of Asia's most consistent sides, could be facing its second consecutive failure at a major tournament, after failing to advance past the first stage at last month's Olympics. Coach Huh Jung-moo offered to resign after the Olympics, but he was told to remain in the job. "From the beginning our team our team was not playing up to its full ability. After seeing Kuwait playing Indonesia our players let their guard down so their mental state was not that good," he said. "Today's game was not ours, we are in a transitional phase with only three players from the World Cup squad," he added. Kuwaiti coach Dusan Uhrin, a Czech who guided his nation to the 1996 European Championship final, said his team was lucky to survive the second half without conceding an equalizer. "I saw Korea three times and they played very well. But we changed our tactics from the game against Indonesia. We played very well in the first half and I think we were lucky in the second," he said.
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