Intercontinental Cup: DPR Korea downs Tajikistan

Ri Hyong Jin scored the all important goal to see DPR Korea end the league campaign on six points from two wins and a draw.

Action during an Intercontinental Cup fixture between DPR Korea and Tajikistan.

DPR Korea downed Tajikistan by a solitary first-half goal in a round-robin league match here at the EKA Arena on Monday to brighten its chances of making it to the final of the Intercontinental Cup.

Ri Hyong Jin scored the all important goal to see DPR Korea end the league campaign on six points from two wins and a draw.

Tajikistan also has six points from two wins and a draw and it now depends on the result of the last league match between host India and Syria on Tuesday to have a clear picture of the line-up for the final.

Syria, with three points, needs a win to stay in the hunt as India crashed out of the tournament.

READ: India falls to DPR Korea

DPR Korea established the lead in the 33rd minute when Han Thae Hyok set up Ri Hyong Jin with a short tap inside the box and the latter made no mistake with his angular effort that beat Rustam Yatimov in the Tajikistan goal.

Tajikistan tried hard for the equaliser after the break but found the Korean defence make a valiant effort to deny the former a clear look at the goal.

Substitutes Shahrom Samiev and Nozim Babadzhanov broke into the Korean box once each but failed to keep their efforts on target.

The result DPR Korea 1 (Ri Hyong Jin 33) bt Tajikistan 0