Japan to clash with Australia

Three-time champion Japan reached the Asian Cup final after defeating South Korea 3-0 in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out in the semifinals here on Tuesday.

Japan centre-back Yasuyuki Konno netted the decisive penalty after Koo Ja-Cheol, Lee Yong-Rae and Hong Jeong-Ho all failed for South Korea.

Australia demolished Uzbekistan 6-0 in the other semifinal, scoring at will in the second half after leading 2-0 at half-time.

The results:

Japan 5 (Maeda 36, Hosogai 97; Honda, Okazaki, Konno) bt South Korea 2 (Ki 23-pen, Hwang 120), via penalties; Australia 6 (Kewell 5, Ognenovski 34, Carney 65, Emerton 74, Valeri 82, Kruse 83) bt Uzbekistan 0. — AFP