Referee leaves Koreans fuming

Referee leaves Koreans fuming
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

TRIPOLI (LEBANON), OCTOBER 14: A hotly disputed penalty helped China snatch a draw against Asian Cup hopefuls South Korea here on Friday while minnows Indonesia earned a deserved point against Kuwait.

South Korea were left fuming after an appalling refereeing decision saw China awarded a match-levelling spot-kick and their captain Hong Myong-Bo sent off in one fell swoop.

Fan Zhiyi buried the penalty to give China a 2-2 draw against the Koreans, who had looked by far the more stylish of the two Group B contenders.South Korea will remain confident of topping the group however after watching Kuwait struggle to break down plucky Indonesia in the second match of the day.

The Indonesians, tipped as whipping boys before the tournament began, held the Kuwaitis to 0-0 after a sterling performance from goalkeeper Hendro Kartiko.

But while Indonesia's draw qualifies as the first real surprise of the tournament, the main talking point was the earlier refereeing decision which deprived South Korea of a winning start against China.

The Koreans, who have not won the Asian Cup since 1960 inspite reaching the last four World Cup finals, twice took the lead through Lee Young-Pro And Noh Jung-Yoon and looked to be cruising at 2-1 with 20 minutes left.

Then came referee Omar Al-Mehanna's howler. Al-Mehanna pointed straight to the spot after Su Maozhen stumbled and fell in a 60-40 race to a through ball which Hong appeared to have won. Hong was shown the red card.