Asia Cup 2009 :: South Korea fight back to reach final, thanks to You

South Korea made short work of China to qualify for the final of the Asia Cup hockey tournament, chalking up a 5-1 semi-final victory at the Kuantan Hockey Stadium here yesterday.

It will be the fourth appearance in the final for South Korea, who won the title in 1994 and 1999 and were runners-up to India in 2007.

The match started off on a slow pace with the Chinese controlling play. And they took the lead in the 11th minute off their first penalty corner with defender Hu Huiren executing a direct flick to beat goalkeeper Lee Myung-ho.

The Koreans were happy to defend and in one of their quick counter attacks earned their first penalty corner in the 29th minute. And their leading scorer, Kim Byung-hoon, delivered with a powerful drag flick to take his tally to five goals.

In the second half, the Koreans went 3-1 up in a six-minute spell. Forward You Hyo-sik scored the first of his three goals from a goalmouth melee in the 36th minute and was on target again in the 41st minute from a similar situation.

The Koreans pushed hard and did not give space for the Chinese to attack. Hyun Hye-sung added the fourth goal in the 56th minute before Hyo-sik completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute.

Korean coach Cho Myung-jun said that they were not at all worried after the Chinese took the lead.

“Our tactic was to hold them in the first half and keep the score down. We reverted to our normal play in the second half and it worked. The early goals we scored in the second half took the fight out of the Chinese,” he said.

Chinese coach Guo Jie conceded that the Koreans were the much better side.

“They are the top ranked team here and it showed. We tried our best and it was just not enough. We hope to recover in time for the playoff for third place and we will try to get on the podium,” he said.

South Korea are ranked fifth in the world while China are in 16th spot.