IR Iran snatch football bronze

IR Iran sealed the bronze medal in the men's football competition with an extra-time 1-0 win over Korea at Al-Gharrafa Stadium on Thursday. It took until the 114th minute for the deadlock to be broken in a bad-tempered match.

Adel Kolahkaj took the ball past Jung In Whan and hit a powerful strike between two defenders and past Korean goalkeeper Kim Young Kwang to clinch the bronze medal for the Iranians.

Both teams started the match without their top scorers. IR Iran left Arash Borhani, the joint second-highest scorer in the tournament, on the bench and Korea were without Park Chu Young in their starting line-up. Korea were the better side in the opening minutes. They threatened the Iranian goal and maintained good possession for long periods.

Their first serious chance came in the 17th minute. The ball was slipped between two defenders to Kim Dong Hun in front of goal only for Iranian defender Jalal Akbari Kelishadi to deflect it wide. Iran pushed forward on the counter-attack and the match was finely balanced towards the end of the first half which ended goalless.

Korea made their intentions clear in the second half when coach Peter Verbeek substituted forward Lee Chun Soo for defender KIM Chi Gon. The Koreans squandered an excellent chance to score when Baek Ji Hoon found space in front of goal only for his shot to bounce off a defender on the goal line.

Constant Korean attacks failed to muster a goal and the match headed into extra-time. In the second period, IR Iran broke the deadlock with Adel Kolahkaj's strike to set up a tense final few minutes.

Two minutes later an injury to an Iranian player sparked a brawl between several players and a yellow card was shown to KIM Dong Hun. The Korean turned and pushed the referee in frustration. But the Iranians held on to claim bronze medals in the penultimate game of the football competition.

After their loss, a disappointed Verbeek said, "We had six games in two weeks, so everyone knows every player. My team played with heart and did everything to win like the last game. There is one chance and if you lose that chance, that's it. We don't deserve to lose and I feel that today the better team did not win.

"The moment we don't create chances we are in trouble, but as long as we create and wait for the right chances and with a little bit of luck it will be OK. Three to five players made a good impression on me and on the future of Korea's football."

IR Iran's second half substitute Arash Borhani said, "It was a very good game and despite Korea's domination we had better tactics. To put it simply - we played better. We should have gone for the gold, we deserved it, but we missed the opportunity and we have to be satisfied with third place."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006