The cheers of, "Dae-hanminguk!" from the Korean fans, the Red Devils, and, "Jia You!" from the Chinese soccer fans, the Qiu Mi, filled the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the night of Sept. 1.

The results of the final Asian qualifying rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Korea and China were in, and Korea was lucky to survive.
With 51,000 fans filling the stadium, it was a free kick from Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur, that led to the opening goal. After 20 minutes, Son hit a free kick earned by Oh Jae-suk, who plays for Gamba Osaka. Ji Dong-won stepped up and got his head on the ball toward the Chinese goalpost but it went in off the right foot of Chinese midfielder Zheng Zhi with China scoring an own goal.

With the ball returned from the set piece, Korea dominated the game. In the 62nd minute, Lee Chung-yong, who plays for Crystal Palace, scored with a header after Ji Dong-won, from FC Augsburg, brought him a cross. In the 66th minute, Koo Ja-cheol, also from FC Augsburg, didn't miss the chance and converted a fine cross by Son and hit home with his right foot, making the game 3-0.


As they approached the 90th minute, the 8,000 some odd Chinese fans were beginning to look disappointed, as China was down by three to the home team. However, the Chinese team didn't give up and launched an aggressive attack in the remaining time, as they were keen to clinch a spot in the World Cup. In the 73rd minute, Yu Hai, who plays for Shanghai SIPG, scored China's first goal and then Hao Junmin, from Shandong Luneng, scored again three minutes later, making it 3-2.

With the game on a knife-edge, Chinese soccer fans were passionately cheering on their players and waving huge banners and national flags. Nonetheless, Korea was able to hold on for the home-win. Ji Dong-won, who contributed to the first goal and assisted on the other two goals, said, "From the beginning, we expected that our counterpart would be in a defensive mode. We knew little about the Chinese football team because we haven't competed against it before, but we all did our best. We couldn't show our ability to the full this time. We'll have a good rest until our next match, and then do better in the game against Syria."

The Korean team will face Syria in Malaysia, and the Chinese team will face Iran in Shenyang, both on Sept. 6.

By Jeon Han, Yoon Jihye
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Yonhap News
hanjeon@korea.kr