24 July 2004	Saturday	06 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

BEIJING, July 23: The red mist descended on South Korea and Jordan but both teams recovered to win 2-0 and go joint top of Group B at the Asian Cup on Friday.

Lee Dong-gook and Ahn Jung-hwan were on target for South Korea, who had defender Park Jae-hong harshly sent off in the 57th minute with his team leading by one goal.

Already booked, Park was adjudged to have tripped Ismail Matar, though replays showed there had been no contact. After the match, South Korea coach Jo Bonfrere was furious about the decision by referee Ravshan Irmatov to send off Park.

"The referee was not fair on us today," said the Dutchman. "We could appeal but what is the point? They will never rescind the decision and it would probably cause us more problems."

South Korea goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae, booked for protesting the red card, then watched helplessly as Basheer Saeed curled a left-foot shot against the bar from the resulting free kick.

Lee Dong-gook put South Korea ahead against the run of play four minutes before halftime, nodding in a teasing free kick from Lee Young-pyo. Ahn, who came on as a 78th minute substitute, made it 2-0 in injury time with a sharp right-foot shot after a clever pass from Seol Ki-hyeon.

South Korea, World Cup semi-finalists in 2002, have four points from two matches following their 0-0 draw with Jordan on Monday. The Koreans, who have not won the Asian Cup since 1960, face Kuwait on Tuesday in their final group match.

Jordan are level on points on goal difference after they overcame the loss of captain Faisal Ibrahim to beat 1980 champions Kuwait 2-0 thanks to an injury-time double. Ibrahim was given his marching orders for a cynical foul on opposing captain Bashar Abdullah in the 58th minute.

But Khaled Sa'ed pounced two minutes into stoppage time and substitute Anas Al Zboun wrapped up the points with a fine solo effort to throw Group B wide open. "From the start we were going all out to win this match," said Jordan coach Mahmoud Al Gohary, whose team is renowned for playing defensively.

"I was beginning to think it was not going to be our day. After we had a man sent off, I would have been happy with a draw but we played our hearts out and were lucky to win it."

Al Gohary has likened Jordan to shock European champions Greece but he warned his players against over-confidence before their final game against the UAE. Kuwait, who beat the United Arab Emirates 3-1 in their opening match, now face an uphill struggle to reach the last eight. -Reuters