Son Heung-min scored twice in extra time to give South Korea a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan and send them into semi-finals of the Asian Cup on Thursday.
The midfielder got on the end of Kim Jin-su’s cross and headed the ball through the hands of Uzbekistan’s keeper, Ignatiy Nesterov, to break the deadlock after the 104 minutes of end-to-end action at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium.
The Bayer Leverkusen players’ second came with time running out at the end of the second period when the substitute full-back Cha Du-ri charged down the right wing and centred for Son to crash the ball left-footed into the top of the net.
The South Koreans, seeking their first Asian title since 1960, had faced some nervous moments in the second period of extra time but held firm to set up a meeting with Iran or Iraq in Sydney on Monday for a place in the final.
The quarter-final was the first match to finish all square after 90 minutes in 25 games at the tournament but was no dour stalemate and both sides attacked with brio and defended with a muscularity throughout the contest. It was clear from the first few minutes that both sides had come to Melbourne intent on scoring but profligacy in front of goal and two brilliant exhibitions of keeping sent the match to extra time.
