Riots in Syria's victory over Lebanon.. South Korea takes the lead from Iran
South Korea topped the first group of the third round in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in football, by defeating its guest Iran 2-0, Thursday, after it had previously guaranteed qualification, while the Syrian team eliminated the hopes of its Lebanese host of winning the third place after defeating it 3 - Zero at Saida Municipal Stadium in a match that was stopped twice due to riots.
This is Iran's first loss after 7 victories and a draw. It fell to second place (22), a point behind the "Taeguk Warriors" (23).
The two winning goals for South Korea were scored by Tottenham star, attacking captain Son Heung-min (45 + 2), and Ulsan Hyundai defender Kim Young-gwon (63).
South Korea participated in the World Cup finals for the first time in 1954, to be absent 30 years later, before returning to the World Cup in Mexico 1986 and retaining its place since then.
The best result of the "Red Tigers" remains when they achieved the surprise by occupying fourth place in the 2002 World Cup, which their country hosted jointly with Japan, and remains the only Asian team to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
As for Iran, it will compete in the sixth finals in its history after 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018.
In the last tenth round, South Korea will play on UAE soil in Dubai, and Iran will receive Lebanon in Mashhad.
The champion and runner-up of each of the two groups qualifies directly to the World Cup, while the winner between the third of this group and Australia, the third of the second group, will play an international playoff against the fifth of South America in June.
Riots and stopping the match
In Sidon, south of the capital, Beirut, the Syrian team won its first victory in the decisive round of the qualifiers with goals from Alaa Al-Dali (14), Mardik Merdekian (38 from a penalty kick) and Muhammad Al-Marmour (45).
The Syrian team raised its score to 5 points in fifth place temporarily, and Lebanon remained fourth with six points, awaiting the result of the third Emirates (9) and Iraq sixth (5).
This is the fifteenth victory for "Nissour Qasioun" in the history of the two neighboring teams' confrontations, compared to five losses and six draws.
The Lebanese team failed to benefit from playing at home in five consecutive matches, losing in four of them and drawing with Iraq negatively.
Entered the "Rice Men" team
On the other hand, the Syrian team played the match without pressure after losing its hopes of achieving third place, led by its new coach Ghassan Maatouk and with a new squad after the absence of nine players, including Omar Al-Soma and Omar Khribin.
The Lebanese team tried to reach the Syrian net early, but the team suffered from a defensive "weakness", as many mistakes were made, especially from the midfielder Jihad Ayoub, who erred in protecting the ball. Rain (14).
Ayoub dropped full-back Khaled Kurdaghli inside the penalty area to award the Qatari referee Abdul Rahman Al Jassem a penalty kick scored by Mardician, despite Matar's attempts to save it (38).
Before the end of the first half, the Lebanese defensive mistakes were repeated. Al-Marmur exchanged the ball with Al-Dali and scored the first with a deceptive shot to the left of Matar (45).
The start of the second half was delayed due to the angry fans throwing empty water cans on the stadium, with criticism of the performance of the Qatari referee.
The Lebanese team pressed, hoping to remedy the situation, and Muhammad Kdouh almost reduced the result, but his header was saved by goalkeeper Ahmed Madania (63).
The match was stopped for the second time in the 71st minute, with a whistle from the referee due to riots in the stands and throwing things to the stadium, which aroused the objection of the Lebanese team players, especially Hussein Zain, who received the warning. About half an hour.
The result did not change in the remaining twenty minutes.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news