JAKARTA, Indonesia, 12 July 2007 — Saudi Arabia salvaged a 1-1 draw against South Korea with a second-half penalty yesterday in an Asian Cup match interrupted for 25 minutes due to floodlight failure at Indonesia’s Soviet-era soccer stadium.

Saudi Arabian striker Yasser Al-Qahtani fired home the penalty on 75 minutes after the Australian referee judged that Korean defender Oh Beom-seok pulled down striker Malek Maaz. Just over 10 minutes earlier, Korea had taken the lead on a header by Choi Sung-kuk in what had mostly been a dull affair in the regional Asian soccer giants first match at this year’s Asian Cup.

The floodlight failure on 84 minutes at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium will concern tournament organizers. Aside from Group D matches, the aging 88,000 capacity arena is due to host the final of the tournament on July 29.

When play resumed, Saudi Arabia had two great chances to win the match. Malek Muaz missed the target after being put through on goal and Saad Al-Harthi saw a powerful shot well saved by the Korean keeper.

The result means co-hosts Indonesia are top of the group after beating Bahrain, a position few would have predicted before the tournament began. It also means Bahrain can get back into contention when it plays South Korea on Sunday.

Neither side created many chances yesterday in a first half that was dominated by solid defending. Saudi Arabia’s best moment came with less than a minute gone, when Al-Qahtani had a free header inside the penalty box but sent the ball over the bar. Muaz was denied in the 25th minute when the Korean keeper stopped a powerful shot with his foot at the inside post.

Korean striker Cho Jae-jin unleashed a spectacular overhead kick on the 40th minute, but the Saudi keeper got a palm to it. Yasser Al-Mosailem was forced to make another save minutes later, getting his legs in the way of a powerful left-foot strike from outside the area by Kim Chee-woo.

Iran Battle Back to

Beat Uzbekistan

In Kuala Lumpur, substitute Javad Kazemian struck in the 77th minute to give Iran a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan in their Group C match.

The 26-year-old rescued a largely disappointing Iran side, who struggled to find their rhythm against the combative Central Asians.

Uzbekistan, with main striker Maksim Shatskikh suspended, took the lead on 15 minutes through an own goal by Iran defender Rahman Rezaei.

Iran leveled in the 55th minute when Seyed Jalal Hosseini scored from a corner before Kazemian emerged as the hero.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said his team’s superior fitness was the key. “When I took over this team, my first priority was to improve fitness levels,” he told reporters. “After 60 minutes, that was when we really started to dominate Uzbekistan because our players were fit and able to compete better.” The victory put Iran in second place in Group C behind China, who beat hosts Malaysia 5-1 on Tuesday. The top two teams advance to the quarterfinals. With both teams playing cautiously, Uzbekistan took an unlikely lead. Captain Server Djeparov sent a highball forward trying to find striker Ulugbek Bakaev. Rezaei, under pressure from Bakaev, tried to head back to goalkeeper Hassan Rodbarian but only succeed in finding the back of his own net.

Iran came out more determined in the second half and equalized after captain Mehdi Mahdavikia made his first foray upfield. The skipper sent in a testing corner from the left and defender Hosseini rose high to head past Uzbek goalkeeper Pavel Bugalo. Kazemian settled it for Iran when he received Andranik Teymourian’s through ball on the edge of the box and drilled it past Bugalo.

Tempers frayed on the sidelines toward the end of the match with Ghalenoei sent to stands by Kuwaiti referee Saad Al-Fadhli for apparently throwing a water bottle at the fourth official, though the coach said his anger was directed at one of his players.