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South Korea, Australia through to Asian Cup quarters

January 13, 2015

South Korea continues to live up to its favorites tag at the Asian Cup, after securing their spot in the next round. Tournament hosts, the Socceroos, are also through to the quarter-finals after a dominant win.

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South Korea plays against Kuwait
Image: Stefan Postles/Getty Images

South Korea were able to secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Kuwait on Tuesday in Canberra. The win saw them progress to the quarter-finals of the competition for the sixth time in a row.

Tae-Hee Nam scored the first-half winner as team coach Uli Stielike made seven changes from the starting eleven that defeated Oman by a solitary goal in his side's opening match at the weekend.

Right-back Chang-Soo Kim, who was taken off early in the Oman match after a hard tackle, also failed to recover in time, while Saturday's goalscorer Young-Cheol Cho started on the bench.

A bout of fever has also struck down the squad in recent days, meaning Bayer Leverkusen striker Heung-Min Son had to miss Tuesday's game.

"There was no objective behind the changes, it was circumstance," coach Stielike said. "We had three injured players from the Oman match. One has finished the tournament and the other two couldn't recover in time.

"In the last two days we've had a big, big problem with fever in the team," the former German national player added. "Today we had eight players on the bench but really just four players without problems."

Australia's Tomi Juric
Australia's Tomi Juric scored the fourth goal of the game versus Oman in SydneyImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Paul Miller

Socceroos on song

Later on Tuesday, hosts Australia also qualified for the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win. South Korea and Australia will now meet on Saturday in Brisbane, where top spot in group A is at stake. Oman and Kuwait, both out of contention, will play in Newcastle.

The Socceroos set up their win in Sydney with goals from Matt McKay and Robbie Kruse and a penalty from Mark Milligan in the first half. Tomi Juric added a fourth after the break. It was Australia's eighth goal in two games after a 4-1 win over Kuwait in the tournament opener.

Man of the match Kruse, who normally plays his football at Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen, was thrilled to get on the score sheet. The 26-year-old is slowly making his way back to form in the Bundesliga, following a serious knee injury.

"Obviously we could have scored seven or eight in that game," said Kruse after the game. "We created so many chances, that's the best I can remember the national team playing for a long time."

In the other groups, only one round of matches have been played so far. China, United Arab Emirates and Japan top groups B, C and D respectively.

al/asz (AP, AFP)