Cho: We deserved to beat Australia

South Korea manager Cho Kwang-Rae believes his side should have beaten Australia in their Group C Asian Cup clash on Friday.

Cho’s side took a deserved first-half lead at the Al Gharafa Stadium when Koo Ja-Cheol scored his third goal of the tournament after just 24 minutes.

A brave Australia fought back in the second half to claim a point through a Mile Jedinak header, and Cho was adamant it was a case of two points lost.

“We could have won the game if you see the general performance of our team,” Cho said.

“It could’ve been better when it came to the result. For the fans, it was a great game to watch and I am quite appreciative of the players’ performance today.”

“I think that we controlled the game and in that aspect, we’ve improved quite a lot. I am quite pleased with the fact that we can control the game with any other team in the tournament and if we can continue to develop that aspect of our game, it will be much better for us.”

“In the second half, Australia started to pressure us more with physical play so that made it quite difficult to play with the ball as we did in the first half.”

“I’m sure it was a difficult game for Australia as we pressurised them in the first half and made it difficult for them to play.”

Cho admitted the physicality of the Socceroos changed the way his side played and said he was not concerned about his team’s profligacy in front of goal.

“In the second half, Australia started to pressure us more with physical play so that made it quite difficult to play with the ball as we did in the first half,” he said.

“We have many good players who can score goals. It would be much better if we could score more goals but as we look ahead to the next game, I believe we can be better.”

“Players like Park Ji-Sung, Ji Dong-Won and Lee Chung-Yong can score goals for us.”