Bahrain’s Olympic soccer team yesterday suffered a 0-1 defeat against favourites South Korea in their second Group ’B’ match in the Asian Football Confederation’s final qualifying round for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A 62nd-minute header from Kang Min-Soo sealed a deserving win for the Koreans who dominated proceedings for their second successive win in this four-team group.

In the same group, Syria and Uzbekistan bagged their first point when the two sides drew goalless yesterday in Tashkent.

South Korea are now leading the group with six points from two matches, three ahead of second-placed Bahrain with Syria and Uzbekistan on one point each.

Only the winner of this group will qualify for the Olympics to be held next year from August 8 to 24.

Bahrain’s next qualifier will be against the Uzbeks on September 12 in the city of Bukhara. They then play Uzbekistan in the return-leg at home on October 17, and then the final qualifiers against Syria and South Korea on November 17 and 21, respectively.

Bahrain’s crunch match, at the National Stadium in Riffa, was played under humid conditions which influenced the performance of both teams.

The defeat was a major blow for the home team, who enjoyed an excellent start to their campaign last month when they rallied brilliantly to defeat hosts Syria 2-1 in Aleppo.

Bahrain, coached by 64-year-old Milan Macala of the Czech Republic, missed several players in last night’s clash.

Midfielder Abdulla Fatai missed the game through suspension after receiving his second yellow card of the qualifiers against Syria.

Striker Jaycee John, who scored Bahrain’s two goals against Syria, was also unavailable after he was dropped by Macala for missing training sessions.

Instead, the team relied heavily on their strikers Abdulla Al Dakheel and Kuwait-based Ismail Abdullatif who was back after serving a suspension, besides the return of midfielder Faouzi Aaish after recovering from injury.

Bahrain started the match defending their area, allowing the Koreans to attack and make a string of serious inroads by Kim Seung-Young and Shin Young-Rok.

The South Koreans were looking forward to extend their winning record against the Bahrainis, having won their last three Olympic qualifying fixtures.

The Koreans were without Lee Sung Hyun, Choi Chul Soon and Lee Keun Ho, who scored the winning goal against Uzbekistan, who are all out through suspension.

However, Park Sung-hwa’s side kept Bahrain’s forwards at bay while using counterattack tactics which troubled the defence of Jassim Al Malood, Ahmed Bubsheit, Ahmed Abdulla and Abbas Ayyad.

After a spate of missed chances, the Koreans finally capitalised on their effort when a well-taken free-kick from Seung-Young was headed at the near post by Kang which beat Bahrain’s goalkeeper and captain Sayed Mohammed Jaffer.

With 25 minutes remaining, the Bahrainis applied continuous pressure with efforts created by midfielders Rashid Al Sherooqi, Jamal Rashid, Hamad Al Shaikh for strikers Abdullatif and Al Dekheel.

But all Bahrain’s attempts were foiled by Korea’s well-organised defence.