KUALA LUMPUR – Lee Woon-jae continued his amazing record in penalty shootouts on Sunday when he stopped two Iranian spot kicks to send Korea Republic through to the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup.

The 34-year-old is perhaps best remembered for his heroics at the 2002 World Cup when he stopped Joaquin’s spot-kick in a quarter-final shootout against Spain to send the Taeguk Warriors through to the last four.

But Lee’s penalty-stopping exploits have also proved invaluable for his club, Suwon Samsung Bluewings, who have won a string of honours in shootouts with the veteran keeper between the posts.

Lee was in goal when Suwon won both the Asian Club Championship and Asian Super Cup on penalties in 2002 and repeated his heroics two years later when the Bluewings defated Pohang Steelers in yet another shootout in the K-League championship final.

And with his stops on Mehdi Mahdavikia and Rasoul Khatibi in Sunday’s quarter-final clash at Bukit Jalil National Stadium, the Korean skipper kept his country on course for a first Asian Cup title in 47 years.

Unsurprisingly, coach Pim Verbeek was delighted with the contribution of the most senior member of his squad, who was named the game’s most valuable player.

“I think that Lee Woon-jae really deserved his MVP award today,” the Dutch coach said.

“He made some fairly good saves in the second half and of course what he did in the penalty shootout was really, really good.”

But Lee himself was modest about his performance, which set up a last four meeting with Iraq in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

“I don’t think I made good saves in the shootout,” Lee said. “It was more likely the mistakes of the Iranian penalty takers.

“If they had been well taken, I could not have saved them.

“When it comes to penalty shootouts, the advantage is with the goalkeeper because it is the players taking the kicks who will be more nervous.

“So I just had to wait for the moment when the Iran players made their mistakes.”

There was some concern for Lee after he stopped Khatibi’s attempt with his left foot, a save that would prove crucial as Kim Jung-woo stepped up to slot the ball past Vahid Taleblou with the next spot kick to seal a 4-2 win for the Koreans.

Lee was seen limping away after his save on Khatibi and attended the post-match press conference with his left foot wrapped in ice.

However, he reassured Korean journalists: “There is no problem at all and I will be okay for training tomorrow.” Monday, July 23, 2007 at 4:59 PM