North win battle of the Koreas

MACAU (AFP) — North Korea stormed into the East Asian Games football final with a 2-0 win over bitter rivals South Korea.

Captain Kim Yong-jun put North Korea ahead in the first half before Ryang Yong-gi got his fourth of the tournament on 50 minutes.

The under-23 match was played on Saturday just days after the two Koreas took a big step towards fielding a joint team at next year's Asian Games when they set a date to thrash out the details.

North Korea, who had already put 13 past Macau and upset China 3-1, capitalised on some terrible defending to open the scoring midway through the first half.

Ahn Tae-eun failed to deal with an attacking throw-in and his clearance fell straight to North Korean captain Kim Yong-jun, whose shot went straight through goalkeeper Yoo Hyun and crept in at the post. ...