DPR Korea's Kim Kum-il (left) celebrate with his teammate after scoring against Jordan in the AFC Youth Championship semifinal on Thursday. Photo by: AFC/Stanley Chou

By Chetan Kulkarni

KOLKATA: A first-half goal from Kim Kum-il helped DPR Korea edge tournament surprise package Jordan 1-0 in the semifinals of the AFC Youth Championship here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.

The Koreans, who qualified for this competition this time after a gap of 16 years, will face Japan on November 12 in the Final. DPR Korea last featured in this tournament in 1990 and they reached the Final then in Jakarta going down to Korea Republic 4-3 on penalties.

Jo Tong-sop’s charges succeeded in repeating this feat on Thursday thanks to a 39th minute strike from Kum-il.

Both teams started cautiously and the game was initially mostly centred in midfield. DPR Korea slowly started making inroads into the rival half and had their first crack at the Jordan goal in the 29th minute but Pak Chol-min’s volley from inside the box was saved by diving goalkeeper Hamad Al Asmar.

The West Asians got a half chance in the 38th minute but Loiy Al Zaideh’s header was palmed out by an agile Korean custodian Ju Kwang-min. In the counter-attack, a long ball from Pak reached Kum-il in midfield and the playmaker dodged his marker Tariq Al Jumah to barge into the area alone and beat Al Asmar to slot home the opener for DPR Korea. This also proved to be the only goal of the match.

Three minutes before the break, Jordan got a real chance when a freekick from Raed Fraeh found Abdallah Salim inside the box but the shot was neatly pouched by Kwang-min.

In the 58th minute, Kum-il could have doubled the advantage for DPR Korea when he narrowly beat the offside trap but his shot was off the mark.

Jordan almost found the equaliser seven minutes past the hour when Anas Bani Yaseen’s header was collected by Kwang-min on the line. The Korean goalkeeper was, however, pushed inside the line with the ball still nestling in his hands popped out but the Jordanians’ appeal for a goal was turned down by Indian referee Subrata Sarkar.

Jordan’s super-sub Ahmad Nofal, who had scored a brace in their 3-2 victory over India in the group game, took the field in the 59th minute and tried to coordinate the attacks with Al Zaideh and Fraeh but the trio failed to break the Korean defence.

DPR Korea coach Jo Tong-sop said his team was confident of victory. “Both the teams were equal but we had confidence in our abilities and we were sure of winning this game,” he said. “We missed many chances and the score could have been higher but I am happy that we are in the final,” he added.

Jordan coach Jan Poulsen said: “We started very badly and were just running behind the Koreans for the first 20-25 minutes. It was only in the last 15-20 minutes that my players played well.”

“We conceded a silly goal but we did put some pressure in the second half and had some half chances but unfortunately we couldn’t convert them. I am still proud of my players.”