0 over a 10-man Saudi Arabia in their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on Wednesday. Lee Keun-ho put the visitors ahead in the second half after the Saudi team was reduced to ten players while Park Chu-young doubled his side's lead in the injury time to seal an important win for South Korea. The win put South Korea on top of Group B with seven points while Saudi Arabia remains fourth with four points. Iran, which drew 1-1 with UAE in Dubai, stays second in the group with five points, one point ahead of the third-placed North Korea while UAE is in the bottom with one point. Saudi Arabia looked a depleted side with injuries and suspension. Skipper Yasser Al-Qahtani and veteran Hussein Abdul Ghani missed the match due to injuries while striker Saad Al-Harthi had to sit out since he had seen two yellow cards in the previous rounds. Five minutes after the kick off, Saudi Arabia missed a golden chance to take lead after Faisal Al-Sultan's shot from close hit a Korean defender on the goalline. The first real threat for Koreans came after 19 minutes when Shung Hoon shot straight into the hands of Saudi goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah from close. Manchester midfielder Park Ji-sung played a major role in his side's moves. Thirteen minutes after the break, Naif Hazazi drove inside the box to meet Abdu Atif's pass but South Korea ace goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae saved the situation before Hazazi went down aiming for a penalty. But his diving earned him his second yellow. South Korea took advantage of the situation and broke the deadlock in the 77th minute through Lee Keun-ho. In the 91st minute, Park Chu-young completed the tally. Saudi Arabia resumes its campaign in the qualifier with an away clash with North Korea on Feb. 11. Elsewhere, Australia and Japan won their Asian World Cup qualifers to move a step closer to booking their place for South Africa in 2010. Mark Bresciano's last-gasp goal gave Australia a 1-0 victory in Bahrain to maintain its perfect start to the campaign while Japan thumped Qatar 3-0 away to move into outright second place in the Group A standings. Bresciano pounced on a rare defensive mistake by Bahrain to score three minutes into injury time and steal all the points after the Australians had been outplayed for most of the match in Manama. The result provided Australia with their third win in the final round of Asian qualifiers and put it in a strong position to reach the World Cup finals with the top two sides from each of the five-team groups guaranteed places. Japan rebounded from its disappointing 1-1 draw at home with Uzbekistan last month with a comfortable win in Doha to climb to seven points, two behind Australia and three clear of third-placed Qatar, who has already played an extra match. Bahrain and Uzbekistan have a solitary point each.SFF to lodge official protest to FIFA Prince Sultan Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, President, General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW), and Chairman of the Saudi Football Federation (SFF), has issued directives to the Secretariat General of the federation to lodge an official protest to FIFA on the violations and errors while conducting the World Cup qualifying matches by the Asian Football Federation. Following the match, Fahd Al-Mussaibih, manager of the national team, handed over an official protest to Chang Jing of China, observer of the match, on the errors committed by the referee of the match.
