JEDDAH: The Saudi national team paid a heavy price for the loss due to injury of some of its key players when it got beat 2-0 last night by South Korea in a very important match in the World Cup 2010 Asian qualifying fourth round at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.

The Kingdom entered the match without Yaser Al-Qahtani and Hussein Abdul Ghani due to injury while Malek Muaz, still not 100 percent fit, played briefly in the last 15 minutes of the game. Saudi fans filled the stadium hours before the match and exuded confidence that the home team will achieve the desired result.

The Saudis played with one man down following a dubious red card on striker Naif Al-Hazzazi, who was deemed play acting by the referee when he fell to the ground after the Korean goalie tackled him near the goalmouth. Instead of being awarded a penalty kick for his team Al-Hazzazi was booked a second time and ejected from the match.

Saudi Arabia came on strong right from the first minute and nearly scored an early goal. The Saudi coach had called for a 4-4-2 formation with fast passing tactics and had Muhammad Shalhoub and Abdu Utaif leading the attacks.

The Koreans countered with fast-paced attacks and fed long balls to their striking unit.

The visitors were making dangerous crosses inside the Saudi penalty box and came close to scoring a goal on many occasions. Except for a few dangerous attempts, Saudi offense had been flat for most of the first half.

In the second half, the Saudi team suffered a big blow when Al-Hazzazi was sent out in the 59th minute. The Saudi coach was left with no option but to take out Shalhoub to make room for Ahmad Al-Faridi in a bid to boost the striking line.

In the 76th minute, Lee Chun-soo took advantage of a fine cross and poor Saudi defending to score the first goal for South Korea.

Down by one goal, Saudi Arabia was left with no choice but to play aggressive football in search of the equalizer.

Muaz subbed for Abdu Utaif in the final 15 minutes in the hope of energizing the team and scoring the tying goal. In the 85th minute, Hussein Al-Raheb was introduced but again no luck and the closest the hosts got to scoring a goal was when Muaz sneaked behind the defenders and launched a shot but the ball was blocked by the goalkeeper in the 89th minute

South Korea scored its second goal in injury time from a fine shot that went to the left of the Saudi goalie.

Saudi midfielder Tayseer Al-Jasim said after the match that the Saudi team was perfect and their performance was good but had no luck. He said that the red card affected the team performance as did the absence of so many players. He said, “The mission is not difficult and the Saudi team will come back in the upcoming matches.”

Al- Hazzazi said, “The penalty kick was correct and I do not know what the referee was up to when he issued a red card thinking I was faking. He wanted the Saudi team to lose and he got what he wanted. The referee was another player against the Saudi team.”

Muaz said he was fit to play more than 15 minutes but the coach had a strategy and that is why he kept him until the last 15 minutes. “It is not the end of the road, it is only three points and we will make up for the points lost in the next match against Iran,” he said.

The result left South Korea top of Group B with seven points and the Saudis in fourth position with four points. Iran is second with five points after they drew against UAE 1-1 in UAE yesterday. North Korea is third with four points and UAE last with one point.