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Date: | Thu, 8 Nov 2001 15:26:02 -0500 |
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Senegal outplay Korea in World Cup warm-up
JEONJU, South Korea, Nov 8 (AFP)
Africa's Senegal showed why they had defied the odds and qualified for the 2002 World Cup when they beat South Korea 1-0 in an international friendly here on Thursday.
The Asian co-hosts for the 2002 tournament were always struggling to match the physically stronger Africans who had reached next year's finals by overcoming Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.
Jeonju is the gourmet capital of South Korea but there was little to savour from the Korean first-half performance.
The 40,000 crowd, packed into the latest gem of the 10 stadiums specially built for the World Cup, had been hoping for a winning show to celebrate the opening of the showpiece to warm them on a chilly winter evening.
But the spectacular firework display before the start of the match to declare the stadium open had more flare that the performace on the field.
The only surprise about the opening goal was that it took so long to come.
Senegal always looked menacing on the break and the Korean defence looked a step short when it mattered.
But Pape Diop's 44th minute goal came from a mistake by El Hadji Diouf who tried an overhead kick from inside the five-meter box. He missed but the ball sprung loose and Diop crashed it past a helpless Lee Woon Jae in the Korean goal.
The goal was clearly not what the home crowd expected and as the Korean team began to compound error after error as they tried to find a way through the powerful Senegal defence the fans made their annoyance known.
Korea's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink clearly had plenty to say during the break. The Koreans came out with a new-found zest with Lee Chun Soo and Ahn Jung Hwan, who came on for Lee Min Sung, beginning to find gaps in the African defence.
But by 16 minutes all they had to show for their hard work was a long-range shot from Song Chong Gug that posed no risk to Tony Sylva in the Senegal goal.
In the 68th minute Seol Ki Hyeon, who had come on to replace Lee Dong Gook, forced a great diving save from Sylva but Senegal kept their composure to secure a solid if unimpressive victory.
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