Korea crash out of Asian Cup with 2-0 semifinal loss to Jordan

Korea's Lee Kang-in, center, reacts as Jordan players celebrates after winning the Asian Cup semifinal at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]

Sixty-four years of hurt continue for Korea as the Taeguk Warriors crash out of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, losing 2-0 to Jordan in the semifinals at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Tuesday.

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing tournament for Korea, spluttering out of the competition without a single shot on target against a side that theoretically sits some 50 spots lower on the FIFA World Ranking.

Jordan made short work of the Taeguk Warriors. The two goals in the second half — Yazan Al-Naimat in the 53rd minute and Musa Al-Taamari in the 66th — secured the win, but the score could have been much worse if it was not for a series of heroic saves from Korean keeper Jo Hyeon-woo.

At the other end of the pitch, Korea’s all-star offensive lineup was unable to do anything against the five-man defense, Jordan deploying the bodies in the box approach against Korea to devastating effect for the second time in the tournament.

The offensive prowess of Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Kang-in was rendered useless in front of the Jordan defensive wall, every attack puttering out before it could get anywhere near goal.

In defense, the absence of center-back Kim Min-jae — out with two yellow cards — was felt keenly, the back line constantly outpaced and caught flatfooted. The second Jordanian goal was a direct result of this, Korea giving the ball away with a poorly timed back pass.

With the win, Jordan advance to their first Asian Cup final ever — against either Iran or Qatar on Saturday — while Korea head home empty-handed. That extends Korea’s long run without the title to at least 67 years, having last won in 1960 and with the next tournament scheduled in 2027.

Korea, and especially head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, are left with one big question to answer: What just happened? Not in Tuesday’s game, that was fairly obvious, but in the tournament in general.

Korea arrived at the Asian Cup with, on paper, one of the strongest teams the country has ever fielded. Captained by Tottenham Hotspur’s Son — a real, bona fide Premier League captain — with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan, Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee, Bayern Munich’s Kim and a huge supporting cast of Europe-based players, this should have been Korea at it’s very best.

But that certainly was not the case.

Aside from the opening game against Bahrain, which Korea won 3-1 with some proper goals, the Asian Cup campaign has a been a painful war of attrition.

The other two group stage games were draws — against Jordan and Malaysia — and neither of those were pretty. Korea only held Jordan to a 2-2 draw thanks to a stoppage time own goal, while against Malaysia it was a stoppage time penalty.

Then against Saudi Arabia in the round of 16 it was a stoppage time header that pushed the goal to extra time, keeping Korea in the game until a penalty shootout where Jo came through to save the day.

Fast-forward to the quarterfinals against Australia, and it was stoppage time magic again, this time another penalty, followed by an extra time free kick to secure the win.

This time, that last-gasp luck ran out.

Korea’s early exit will likely come as little surprise to the millions of fans back home that have sat through the last five games wondering how exactly you can have so many successful players and see so little success.

That will be a tough question for Klinsmann to answer when he gets back to Korea, and there are likely to be a lot of disgruntled football fans looking for answers.

With Korea now out of the Asian Cup and with no FIFA international break ongoing, all Europe-based players will be expected to return to their clubs immediately to resume club football.

The K League players will return to Korea for preseason training ahead of the start of the domestic campaign next month.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]