South Korea stun Greece
Posted: Jun 12 2010
South Korea beat Greece 2-0 in a World Cup Group B fixture played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Lee Jung-Soo pounced on some slack marking to knock the Asians ahead early in the first half, before a strike from Park Ji-Sung, who was the benefactor of a dire mistake from Loukas Vyntra early in the second half, made the game safe.
The Greeks made a positive start to the encounter, wasting a fine chance to score their first ever goal at a World Cup finals after just two minutes. Giorgos Karagounis whipped over a corner from the Greece right which the South Koreans failed to defend. The ball dropped invitingly to Vasilis Torosidis, who prodded off target from six yards having failed to sort his feet out.
With six minutes on the clock a free kick near the corner flag was arrowed into the box by Ki Sung-Yong and tapped home at the far post by Lee Jung-Soo to open the scoring.
Otto Rehhagel responded to the poor first half by withdrawing captain Karagounis, but this had little effect. Centre-back Vyntra, who had some horror moments in the first half, cost his side a goal six minutes after the restart, presenting the ball to Park Ji-Sung when asked to deal with a routine pass from Giourkas Seitaridis.
The midfielder held off the challenge of the recovering defender before skipping past a lunge from Papadopoulos before dispatching the ball into the net.
The German coach responded to this blow by making another couple of changes, though the Europeans remained inert offensively.
With ten minutes remaining, Gekas gave Korea a fierce wake-up call, pivoting 12-yards out to drive powerfully at goal. Thankfully for Jung Sung-Ryong, the shot was down the middle of the goal, giving him the chance to tip the ball over.
Ultimately the final score flattered Greece if anything, and South Korea can now focus on their next fixture against Nigeria, which, if they win, will leave them perfectly positioned to reach the last 16 for a second time.
6
90
: 2010-06-12 15:51
Comment on this article:
TERMS OF USE: The comments posted below do not reflect the views of KickOff.com. Users are reminded that no misuse of this comment facility will be tolerated. Any abusive, racist or inflammatory comments will be deleted and the user banned. Please report abusive posts to editor@kickoff.com