An entertaining match up between two of the tournament's top teams has ended in a 1 - 1 tie. Australia and South Korea were expected to put on a high quality show with all of Asia watching, and they did not disappoint, providing end to end action for much of the 90 minutes.
The Socceroos constructed the first few goal scoring chances of the match but were unable to capitalise on their strong work through the midfield after Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill missed several goal scoring opportunities. There was a clear lack of pressure whilst the South Koreans had possession, with the Australian midfield and defence refusing to go in for the challenge, instead allowing room and time for their opposition. This inevitably turned out to be their downfall when they gifted the South Koreans too much space in dangerous territory and a neat finish by Koo Ja-Cheol saw them take a handy 1 - 0 lead.
The best player on the field was South Korean Park Ji-Sung who mesmorised the Australians on numerous occasions, but was also guilty of taking several dishonest dives in an attempt to deceive the referee into awarding his team a free kick. The Socceroos fought hard and were eventually rewarded with an equaliser in the 62nd minute off Mile Jedinak's head.
Either side looked capable of scoring in the winning goal in the closing stages of the match, Schwarzer forced into making the save of the tournament with sub-human relexes to keep the ball out of the net in the 87th minute after an excellent close range attempt on goal by Ki Sung-Yueng.
A tie was a fair result reflecting the performances in the match, however the South Koreans appeared more pleased with the result being the weaker of the two teams, and the team which had been less favoured to emerge victorious. It will now come down to goal difference to determine the winner of the group when both teams play their final group match in four days time.
