S. Korea hammers Uzbekistan in opening leg of football doubleheader

SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Olympic football team pounded Uzbekistan 5-1 at Seoul World Cup Stadium Friday, in the opening leg of the rare football friendly doubleheader in the nation's capital.

Five different players got on the score sheet for the home team. Kim Tae-hwan scored just two minutes in, and the rout was on.

Yun Il-rok and Park Jong-woo added a goal apiece in the first half, and Baek Sung-dong and Park Yong-ji also scored in the second half.

Uzbekistan avoided the shutout when Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov scored in the 54th minute.

Later Friday, the senior national team is scheduled to host Poland at the same stadium.

The Olympic team, for players 23 and younger, is in the midst of the final Asian qualification for the London Games next year.

South Korea leads Group A, which includes Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, after beating Oman 2-0 at home last month. Korea's next game is against Qatar on the road on Nov. 23.

In the ongoing qualification, there are three groups of four teams each, and they will play each other twice in the home-and-away format. Only the top seeds from those groups will secure berths to London. The winner of a three-way playoff among No. 2 teams will enter an international playoff for the final chance to qualify.

South Korea is trying to make its seventh straight Olympics and ninth overall, but it has never won a football medal at the Olympics. It has made it out of the first round only twice in eight previous appearances at Olympic tournaments.