An iconic stadium located south of Seoul will host a World Cup qualifier between South Korea and Qatar on October 6, the sport’s national governing body said Wednesday.
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“Iranian players are physically strong and pressed us hard in the first half, so we can not give them real threat”, said Gao.
South Korea opened their match with a 3-2 win over China at home last week. A header from Iran’s midfielder Masoud Shojaei in the 31st minute narrowly missed the goal. “Generally speaking, I’m satisfied with my players’ performance”.
Wu Lei and China could not find a way to score against Iran on Tuesday.
Iran second half substitute Mehdi Torabi then draw a sprawling save from Gu with his shot from distance before Zhang Xizhe tested Beiranvand with a stinging drive at the other end in injury time, but the goalkeeper blocked and then dove on the ball at the second time of asking.
“Iranian players are physically strong and pressed us hard in the first half, so we cannot give them real threat”, said China head coach Gao Hongbo.
“We’re the weakest team in World Cup qualifying final phase, so we can’t afford to underestimate any team in the last 12”, Gao added.
Fans were treated to more of the same in the second half as chances continued to pile up but a final product was lacking on both sides. “Every player contribute to his game and I thank them for that”. “It’s an away match for us and we earn a point here at least”.
Coach Gao Hongbo chose to start Zhang in Shenyang and it proved an astute move as the teenager came close with a spectacular effort in the first half, and was only denied by a desperate block in the second before he came off on 79 minutes.
China snatched the first point and now ranks fourth in Group A after two matches in the final round of FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers.
“I’m a bit disappointed about the result because we had expected to win”, he said.
In another match of Group A, Syria forced a scoreless draw against South Korea in Malaysia.
In a Group B match, Saudi Arabia rallied to beat Iraq 2-1 on road.
South Korea were high on confidence and enjoyed the majority of possession, with Syria happy to sit back and defend, but only created a few chances of note.
Iraq, also playing in Malaysia because of conflict at home, were 1-0 up with nine minutes to play before Abed buried spot-kicks in the 81st and 87th minutes.
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Syria goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma made two superb saves to frustrate South Korea in a 0-0 draw in World Cup qualifying.
