New Delhi: Saudi Arabia and South Korea played out a 1-1 draw in a Group D Asian Cup match on Wednesday at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
South Korea were first to score in the 65th minute with a Choi Sung Kuk header but 10 minutes later Saudi Arabia were awarded a penalty and skipper Yasser Al Qahtani capitalised on it to equalise.
The penalty was awarded by the referee after Korean defender Oh Beom-seok brought down Malek Maaz.
In the 84th minute the floodlights failed in the match and the match was interrupted for 25 minutes. The final of the tournament is to be played at the same venue on July 29.
After the resumption, Saudi Arabia had couple of chances to take the lead but Maaz missed the target while Saad Al Harthi's shot was saved by the Korean goalkeeper.
The draw means co-hosts Indonesia are top of the group after beating Bahrain.
Though both South Korea and Saudi Arabia are Asian powerhouses but neither team played attacking football and there were very few scoring changes in the first half.
In another Asian Cup match, three-time champions Iran came back from a goal down to beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in a Group C tie.
Uzbekistan, surprisingly, took the lead in the 16th minute when Irani defender Rahman Rezaei scored an own goal.
Iran came back stong in the second half eqaulising in the 55th minute through a Sayed Hosseini header off from Mehdi Mahdavikia's corner. With 12 minutes remaining Javed Kazemian won the match for Iran with a goal off an Ali Karimi's pass.
Djeparov created another chance for Uzbekistan but Kapadze failed to fire the ball in to the net from a one-on-one position against Iran goalkeeper Hassan Roudbarian in the 72nd minute.
With the win Iran are now in the in second place behind China in Group C on goal differences. China, which trounced Malaysia 5-1, and Iran meet on Sunday.
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