South Korea battled a man short and embroiled in their third straight penalty shootout to beat Japan in a marathon play-off for third place at the Asian Cup here Saturday.

The hard-working Koreans were involved in their third consecutive scoreless game at the tournament but survived when goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae saved Naotake Hanyu's spot-kick to take the game 6-5 on penalties.

The win guaranteed them qualification to the 2011 Asian Cup, expected to be held in Qatar.

It was a triumph for the gutsy Koreans, who battled with 10 men after defender Kang Ming-soo was sent off for a second yellow card on the hour.

Their Dutch coach Pim Verbeek and two of his assistants also were ordered to the stands for disputing the red-card decision.

Eleven spot-kicks were converted in the shootout before Lee, who won his team their penalty shootout against Iran in the quarterfinal in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday, saved Hanyu's kick onehanded.

Japan will rue their missed chances to claim victory in extratime with two great late opportunities to snatch the match.

Substitute Hanyu blasted into defender Kim Chi-gon on the line and Hisato Sato forced Lee into a smothering save.

It was brinkmanship yet again for the Koreans after beating Iran on penalties only to lose their semi-final to Iraq in a shootout.

Japan were backing up after their

shattering 3-2 semi-final loss to Saudi Arabia in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Both teams had their chances in their end-to-end opening half as the Koreans tried to break their run of firing blanks.

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was angry with his defenders when Yeom Ki-hun was allowed to fire in a long-range attempt which whizzed past the post in the 15th minute.

Defender Kim Chi-woo got his boot to clear the danger from lurking striker Satoro Yamagishi moments later.

But the Koreans went to the other end and Yeom's free kick was punched clear by Yamaguchi and Lee Chun-soo had a short-range attempt blocked.

Japan had their best chance nearing half-time when defender Yuji Nakazawa had a shot saved at point-blank range by goalkeeper Lee off a Shunsuke Nakamura corner.

The Koreans picked up two yellow cards in the opening half with Kang Ming-soo getting one for a hefty challenge on striker Naohiro Takahara in only the 10th minute and midfielder Oh Jang-eun cautioned for a late tackle.

The match blew up in the 57th minute when Kang received his second yellow card and was sent off by UAE referee Al Badwawi, which triggered the dismissal of coach Verbeek and two of his assistants for disputing the decision.

But the Koreans marshalled their defence and saw off the Japanese threat to take it their third consecutive match into of extra0time and then penalties.