Socceroos salvage a draw
Mile Jedinak's second-half header salvaged a draw for Australia against South Korea in an entertaining Asian Cup Group C game at Al Gharafa Stadium.
• Taylor: All equal amid contrasting styles
• Cho feels South Korea deserved victory
Koo Ja-cheol's third goal of the tournament in the 24th minute had given the Koreans the lead but Jedinak pounced from six-yards out to ensure honours ended even to leave the sides joint top of their group on four points.
Harry Kewell had the game's first opportunity after seven minutes when the ball broke to the midfielder eight yards out but he scooped it over the bar.
South Korea went in front after 24 minutes when Ji Dong-won latched onto a long ball over the top and, after holding up play in the box, fed Koo who found the bottom corner with a clinical finish.
Ji then brought a smart reflex stop out of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer after Lee Young-pyo had played in the midfielder before an unwitting David Carney almost diverted the same player's glancing header into his own net.
Kewell wasted another chance when he pulled a shot from the edge of the area wide of the far post as South Korea went in at the break one goal to the good.
They continued to press in the second period and Lee Jung-soo saw a glancing header fly narrowly over the bar.
Schwarzer did well to turn aside Park Ji-sung's powerful angled drive at his near post before Australia equalised in the 62nd minute.
The Korean defence failed to clear Luke Wilkshire's corner and, after Lucas Neil lobbed the ball back into the danger area from the left of the box, Jedinak outjumped Jung Sung-ryong to nod home.
Schwarzer then preserved Australia's point with four minutes to go, pulling off a fine one-handed save low down to his right to deny Ki Seung-yung after substitute Yeom Ki-hyun had nodded Lee Chung-yong's cross into the midfielder's path.
South Korea boss Cho Kwang-rae felt his side's display merited all three points.
"We could have won the game if you see the general performance of our team. We could've won the game," he said. "It could've been better when it came to the result tonight. For the fans, it was a great game to watch and I am quite appreciative of the players' performance today.
"I think that we controlled the game and, in that aspect, we've improved quite a lot.
"With the fact that we can control the game with any other team in the tournament I am quite pleased about that, and if we can continue to develop that aspect of our game, it will be much better for us."
Australia boss Holger Osieck was delighted with the way his side battled back from a goal down to leave both sides level on four points at the top of the group with one round of games remaining.
"I think we have seen a high standard match. Both teams have great potential and we've seen that today," he said.
"It was end to end. Both teams tried to play football. It was not just entertaining but from the technical point of view it was very good.
"I'm very happy with our performance. Our plan to close them down in midfield was mostly achieved. We knew about their strength and you could see that on a couple of occasions but what was most encouraging for me was that we created a lot of chances, in particular in the first-half that we could have converted, but we never gave up and got the goal. We came back into the game.
"We didn't just fight - we tried to play."