Lebanon brushed aside by South Korea in World Cup qualifier

Winger Kim Bo-Kyung broke his international duck with a classy brace Tuesday as South Korea beat Lebanon 3-0 to move towards their eighth consecutive World Cup finals and leave Lebanon with little hope of qualification.

The Cerezo Osaka left-footer grabbed his first goals in 14 senior internationals, and Koo Ja-Cheol added a late third as the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists made it two wins in a row to start the last qualifying phase.

South Korea beat Qatar 4-1 in Doha last week, while Lebanon fell to Qatar and drew against Uzbekistan before their long trip east.

Tuesday's win also avenged South Korea's 2-1 reverse in Beirut last November, which cost former coach Cho Kwang-Rae his job.

It was a slow start to the evening in Goyang, west of Seoul, as both teams looked fatigued from the heavy international schedule.

With the visitors seemingly content to sit back, South Korea were unable to penetrate until Kim opened the scoring with a rocket from just inside the box in the 29th minute.

The left-footed midfielder took a sharp cross from Lee Keun-Ho and put a thunderous strike past goalkeeper Ziad El-Samad off the bottom of the crossbar.

Just after half-time, Kim was released near the center after a botched Lebanese corner, and he drove in on El-Samad before chipping it over the advancing keeper.

And the winger nearly picked up a hat-trick when he fired narrowly wide of the right post near the hour-mark. FC Augsburg's Koo then pounced on a defensive error to lash home the third goal on 89 minutes.

At the other end, South Korean goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong was rarely tested but he pulled off a diving save to keep out a Mouhamad Chamass shot late in the game.

Lebanon, winless after three games in the ongoing round, are seeking their first World Cup qualification but it is now highly unlikely to happen.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)