AFC - Korea Republic continued their march towards a fifth consecutive appearance in the Men's Olympic Football tournament as they edged to a narrow win over Malaysia in Group A of the Asian Football Qualifers 2004.
Cho Jae-jin's penalty late in the first half proved to be the difference as the Koreans scored their third consecutive 1-0 win in the group to move six points clear at the top of the table.
Despite completely dominating the second half, Korea failed to add to their lead and suffered a blow in injury time when Cho was bizarrely sent off after receiving his second yellow card.
It was the home side that enjoyed the first opportunity at the MPPJ Stadium as Malaysian dangerman Akmal Rizal headed over from a corner kick.
That was to be the only real chance of the first half for the hosts as the Koreans took control with Cho Jae-jin heading straight at Malaysian goalkeeper Syamsuri Mustafa and Cho Byung-kuk putting another effort into the side netting.
In between those efforts, the Koreans were denied a penalty kick when Jae-jin appeared to be pushed in the box, but the referee waved off the appeals and booked the Korean forward for diving.
Jae-jin proved to be a constant menace to the Malaysian defence and he fired another effort just over the crossbar in the 37th minute.
Choi Tae-uk had a glorious opportunity to break the deadlock in the 42nd minute as Kim Dong-jin found him completely unmarked in the penalty box but Syamsuri made an excellent diving save to deny the Korean player.
However, on the ensuing corner, Yosri Dermaraju's weak clearance was picked up by Cho Byung-kuk, who was sent sprawling in the box by Norhisham Hassan for a penalty. Jae-jin made no mistake from the spot, firing the ball to the left, just out of Syamsuri's reach.
The Koreans took complete control after the break but were let down by profligate finishing. Choi Won-kwon went close in the 53rd minute when he cut inside to fire in a low shot from 20 yards but the ball appeared to take a slight deflection off Jae-jin as it went narrowly wide.
Syamsuri was then called into action on 65 minutes as he scrambled to his left to make a save after Choi Tae-uk poked Choi Sung-kuk's effort towards goal.
The goalkeeper then had Zamani Misbah to thank as the defender hacked the ball clear during a scramble in front of the Malaysian goal.
The Koreans were nearly made to pay for their poor finishing in the closing minutes as goalkeeper Kim Young Kwang had to punch away a free-kick by Irwan Fadzli Idrus to prevent a Malaysian equaliser.
With the game deep into injury time, Cho Jae-jin received his marching orders in bizarre circumstances when he was shown his second yellow card, seemingly for time wasting, as he fired the ball into the Malaysian net after the referee had blown the whistle for a Korean infringement. Cho's red card means that the Korean striker is likely to sit out the return match against the Malaysians in Suwon on April 14.
Despite that setback, the Koreans hung on for the victory which puts them firmly in the driving seat at the top of Group A, six points ahead of second-placed Iran, who have a match in hand against China in Wuhan on Saturday.