EAFF E-1 Football Championship: ‘Monster’ goal hands South Korea 1-0 victory over China in Busan
- Kim Min-jae rises to head home the only goal of the match in front of a partisan but sparse crowd
- China will be hoping to avoid the wooden spoon when they play Hong Kong on Wednesday
China were beaten 1-0 by hosts South Korea in the EAFF Football Championship in Busan on Sunday evening but the scoreline did not tell the whole story.
It was the visitors who had the first chance of the game in front of a partisan but sparse crowd at the Asiad Main Stadium, which was used for the 2002 Fifa World Cup.
China striker Dong Xuesheng fired over from a Tan Long cross, but that was not a pattern that would continue.
Instead, the man known as “Monster” opened the scoring from a corner four minutes later. Kim Min-jae is no stranger to the China team, playing his club football for Chinese Super League runners-up Beijing Guoan and having scored against the national side at the AFC Asian Cup in January.
His header was an almost carbon copy of that goal in the UAE at the start of the year as he rose highest to power home at the near post. The goal had been coming, with South Korea’s Hwang In-beom hitting the crossbar from outside the area. The Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder came close to adding to the goal he scored in his side’s opener against Hong Kong.
