By Xinhua
Kuala Lumpur : South Korea is one match away from the Asian Cup final and current form makes it firm favourites in the semi-final clash against Iraq at the Bukit Jalil sports complex here Wednesday.
The way the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists advanced from the group stage did not look pretty, but Iraq now presents the last hurdle before South Korea for a ticket to the Jakarta final.
The Asian powerhouse narrowly qualified for the knock-out phrase after sneaking a 1-0 win over Indonesia, as well as some luck from Saudi Arabia's win over Bahrain. But the South Koreans are gradually showing their class.
With a fine tuned midfield, South Korea may be given more space to create scoring opportunities.
During a news conference Tuesday, South Korea coach Pim Verbeek admitted Iraq is a tough rival, but was confident that his players will show their skills to reach the final.
"They (Iraqi players) reached the semi-final of the 2004 Athens Olympics, they were in the final of last year's Asian Games and they were in the semi-finals of the Gulf Cup," said Verbeek.
Meanwhile, Iraq has been up and down in the tournament so far.
The team shone in a 3-1 win over Australia, but what followed was a drab goalless draw with Oman.
Though Iraq entered the semi-final, its 2-0 quarter final win over Vietnam was far from impressive.
Jorvan Vieira's men lost 3-0 to South Korea in a pre-Cup warm-up.
"We went to South Korea to prepare for the Asian Cup and South Korea smashed us in very different circumstances," felt Vieira.