Karimi hat trick

Karimi hat trick puts Iran into Asian Cup semis

Agence France-Presse Jinan, China

An Ali Karimi hat trick shot Iran into the Asian Cup semifinals on Saturday as the three-time champion came through a seven-goal thriller to down South Korea 4-3.

Karimi's third on 77 minutes finally put paid to some dogged resistance from the 2002 World Cup semifinalist, which had three times come back from a goal down.

South Korea had threatened to pull off the greatest of escapes after Park Jin-sub's own goal early in the second half, with defender Kim Nam-il's speculative shot leveling the scores at 3-3 with 20 minutes to go.

But Karimi, whose first-half double had ignited the quarterfinal, managed to get on the end of a free kick from Asian Player of the Year Mehdi Mahdavikia to settle the encounter.

The result sets up a mouth-watering semifinal between Iran and host China, whose coach Arie Haan was among the 31,500 crowd.

The Asian giants, who have won the Asian Cup five times between them, had earlier slugged it out to 2-2 at half-time with the Koreans twice pegging back goals from Karimi.

Karimi put Iran ahead after just 10 minutes, nodding past Korean 'keeper Lee Woon-jae after Hossein Kaebi hooked across the face of goal.

But South Korea hit back just six minutes later as Seol Ki- hyeon volleyed home a Park Ji-sung cross from close range.

Karimi placed another downward header past Lee before tournament top-scorer Lee Dong-gook tucked away a left-footed volley from a deflected cross on 25 minutes.

Also in the first half, Iranian defender Ebrahim Taghipour was driven out of the stadium in an ambulance following a sickening clash of heads with Korean striker Seol.

In Chongqing, holder Japan defeated Jordan to reach the final four of the tournament after a controversial penalty shoot-out that saw a switch of ends after heated protests by the champion.

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was the hero for Japan, pulling off two stunning saves from Jordanian spot-kicks to put his team into a last four meeting with Bahrain on Tuesday.

The match had gone to penalties after an absorbing 120 minutes of soccer saw the two sides locked at 1-1, Japan striker Takayuki Suzuki's 14th-minute goal canceling out Jordan's early headed opener by Mahmoud Shelbaieh.

But the shoot-out exploded into controversy after Japan demanded a switch of ends after missing its opening two spot- kicks, leaving Jordan fuming.

Jordan squandered three penalties that would have won it the match after Malaysian referee Mohd Subkhiddin ordered the change of goals.

Jordan coach Mahmoud Al-Gohary said the decision had cost his team victory.

"We need to have the players full concentration when they are doing the penalty kicks, but the referee switched the goals and we lost our concentration," complained Al-Gohary.

"I have never seen the switch of the goal mouths in the penalty kicks just because the other side demanded it," said downcast Jordan coach Mahmoud Al-Gohary. "We tried to move it back but they said no."

Al-Gohary's Japan counterpart Zico admitted the switch of goals was unprecedented in his career.

"I've never seen a referee change sides during the penalty shoot-out, but the referee is the final judge and we should obey his decision," Zico said.

Asian Football Confederation officials told AFP that damage to the penalty spot on the disputed side led to the decision to change sides.