By David Gold
February 23 – South Korea will be at London 2012 after a comfortable 3-0 win over Oman in their penultimate Olympic men’s football qualifier, whilst Japan are as good as qualified.
The South Koreans won with goals from Nam Tae-hee (pictured above left), Kim Hyun-sung and Kim Min-Woo, and means they are four points clear of Oman in Group A of the Asian qualifiers.
Oman and Qatar, who beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 at home, will meet in their final qualifier with the runner-up spot at stake.
Japan’s 4-0 win over Malaysia means that they are three ahead of Bahrain in Group C, who they meet in their final qualifier, and are red hot favourites for London.
Bahrain beat Syria 2-1, whilst in Group B the United Arab Emirates moved three points ahead of Uzbekistan with a 1-0 win over Australia.
Uzbekistan’s 2-1 defeat to Iraq meant that they lost ground, but the top two go head to head in the final game next month for a place in London.
The three runners up will be entering a round robin play off in Vietnam at the end of March, with the winner going forward to face Senegal in Coventry on April 23 for the last London 2012 spot.
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