Abu Dhabi: Asian club champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma from South Korea proved too good for UAE's champion club Al Wahda and a 4-1 win helped them advance to the semifinals of the Fifa Club World Cup on Saturday.
A crowd of over 30,000 at the Zayed Sports City stadium watched a clinical display by the Koreans with goals from Mauricio Molina (4th), Australian Sasa Ognenovski (30th), Choi Sung Kuk (71st) and Cho Dong Geon (81st) earn Seongnam a semifinal meeting with European Club champions Inter Milan on Wednesday.
Fernando Baiano scored Al Wahda's only goal through a header in the 27th minute.
The local fans were stunned when Seongnam scored in the very fourth minute when a defensive lapse paved the way for a strong start by the Koreans. Hamdan Al Kamali cleared a loose ball but it went straight to Colombian Mauricio Molina and with Al Wahda keeper Adel Al Hosani charging out, the Seongnam striker made no mistake slotting into an empty goal.
That strike numbed the UAE league champions and the Asian Club champions began to take control of proceedings. It was only in the 22nd minute that Al Wahda made their first purposeful move into the rival box. Mahmoud Khamis and Brazilian midfielder Henrique Hugo exchanged passes but the former's final attempt was weak and wide. Soon a one-two by Esmail Matar and Fernando Baiano ended in a flag kick and the hosts were up and running.
The stadium then erupted when Al Wahda equalized in the 27th minute. Baiano, failing to find his way into the box pushed the ball back on the right to Eisa Ahmad and then moved into the box. The big Brazilian then met Ahmad's cross and headed powerfully giving no chance to Jung Sung Ryong, the goalkeeper who did duty for Korea in the World Cup.
But hardly had the cheers died down when the Korean club was back in the lead. This time it was their skipper Sasa Ognenovski, the tallest player in the tournament at 1.95 metres, who outjumped the Wahda defence and headed home a flagkick taken by Molina.
Wahda's only other attempt after that goal was when Hugo's shot was saved by Jung and the Koreans took a 2-1 lead to the break.
Seongnam came attacking after the break and Montenegro's Radoncic Dzenan, the third foreigner in the Korean club was thwarted by an advancing Al Hosani. But the class of the Asian Club Champions soon told when a combined move found an unmarked Choi Sung Kuk and the Seongnam number eight fired past Al Hosani for a 3-1 lead in the 71st minute.
Ten minutes later the hosts' party came to an end when Cho Dong Geon headed home a free-kick and it was game over for Al Wahda.
