Three-time champions Japan reached the Asian Cup final after defeating arch-rivals South Korea 3-0 in a nail-biting penalty shootout in the semi-finals on Tuesday. Centre-back Yasuyuki Konno netted the decisive penalty, placing the ball into the right-hand side of the goal, after Koo Ja-Cheol, Lee Yong-Rae and Hong Jeong-Ho had all failed from 12 yards for South Korea.
Japan led going into the final minute of extra-time but Hwang Jae-Won slammed in a sensational equaliser following a scramble inside the Japanese box to make the score 2-2 and send the game to penalties. It was a redemptive moment for Hwang, who had conceded the controversial penalty from which substitute Hajime Hosogai had given Japan the lead in the seventh minute of extra-time, but his joy proved short-lived.
Ki Sung-Yueng had given South Korea the lead via another disputed penalty mid-way through the first half, with Ryoichi Maeda drawing Japan level nine minutes before half-time. Japan will play the victors of Tuesday's second semi-final between Australia and Uzbekistan in the final on Saturday.
In front of just over 16,000 fans at Doha's 22,000-capacity Al Gharafa Stadium, South Korea withstood early Japanese pressure before coming close to making the breakthrough themselves in the 16th minute. Ki's precise free-kick from a tight angle on the left drew a superb, athletic save from Eiji Kawashima and Lee Chung-Yong's goal-bound follow-up effort was headed away from danger by Konno.
A minute later it was Japan's turn to threaten and the South Korean goal was fortunate to survive intact as Shinji Okazaki's downward header was scrambled onto the left-hand post by Jung Sung-Ryong. Park Ji-Sung, making his 100th international appearance, made an inauspicious start to the match when he was booked for elbowing Makoto Hasebe, but he redeemed himself by winning the penalty from which Korea took the lead.
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