Abu Dhabi: The bitterness of their semifinal defeat must have eased somewhat when Pohang Steelers edged out Mexico's Atlante 5-4 via the tie-breaker and make Asia proud with their third-place finish in the Fifa Club World Cup here on Saturday.
Pohang Steelers became the third successive Asian team in three years to take third place, Japanese clubs Uruwa Reds Diamonds and Gamba Osaka doing it in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
After the Asian champions from South Korea and the Concacaf champions from the Mexico had shared two goals in full time, the tie-breaker was applied without extra time and Sergio Farias, who cried foul earlier, was overjoyed when Kim Hyun Gil made no mistake with the decisive fifth penalty.
The Brazilian coach of Steelers had soured the event when he slammed the referee after three of his players were red-carded in his team's 1-2 defeat to Argentina's Estudiantes.
But his team did show a steely resoluteness as they managed to stave off the skilful Mexicans and also took a lead from Denilson.
Denilson, who said his three goals in two matches before the third-place play-off had suddenly made him popular in Brazil at the age of 33, did well to beat the experienced Federico Vilar, an Argentine and skipper of Atlante.
Equaliser
Atlante came back strongly and equalised in the very first minute of the second half through Rafael Marquez. Denilson almost finished off the match but his shot in the 90th minute was saved by Vilar, the Estudiantes supporters in the stands cheering the Argentine's efforts. Atlante coach Jose Cruz brought in Santiago Solari and Horacio Peralta seconds before the final whistle for the shootout and while Solari obliged, Peralta shot into the left post while the other culprit for the Mexican side was their goal-scorer Marquez.
Apart from Lucas Silva, it was Solari and Vilar who converted, the two Argentines providing some joy to the Argentine supporters whose voices were already hoarse about three hours before the kick-off of the final.
The Koreans started with three neatly taken penalties by No Byung Jun, Denilson and Shin Hyung Min. Substitute Park Hee Chul shot wide to give the Mexicans a glimmer of hope but Vilar, who had to save the last shot was sent the wrong way by Kim's effort and the Koreans celebrated wildly.
"I'm pleased with all the attention I've been receiving back home because it's great for my family and friends. I have a huge family in Brazil and they're all very proud. It will stay in their memories for a long time," Denilson had told fifa.com before the match.
