South Korea kicked off their World Cup campaign in Group B with a confident performance in beating Greece 2-0 in Port Elizabeth.
Early Jung-soo goal and Ji-sung effort secure Group B success
South Korea kicked off their World Cup campaign in Group B with a confident performance in beating Greece 2-0 in Port Elizabeth.
Lee Jung-soo gave the Koreans the perfect platform with an early goal before Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung finished coolly in the second half to seal the three points against a limited Greece side.
The 2002 semi-finalists enjoyed a dream start at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by taking the lead after just seven minutes when Jung-soo stole in at the far post to side-foot home a free-kick from the left.
Korea should have been two goals to the good before the half-hour mark when Park Chu-yong was sent clear of the defence, but the Monaco forward's shot was diverted over by Greece keeper Alexandros Tzorvas' leg.
Greece struggled to create any chances, but were almost gifted an equaliser before half-time when Korean keeper Jung Sung-ryong struggled to deal with a ball into the box with Theofanis Gekas lurking close by.
And within seven minutes of the restart, Greece fell further behind after being the victims of their own downfall when Loukas Vyntra's poor control was seized upon by Ji-sung, who galloped into the box before neatly sliding the ball past Tzorvas.
Chu-yong headed another good opportunity off target before a late rally from Greece saw Gekas forced a smart reaction stop out of Sung-ryong.
Only a sprawling save from Tzorvas denied Lee Chung-yong a third goal as Korea put themselves in a strong position to progress from the group phase.
Relieved
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel had warned his players in advance to beware South Korea's panther-like qualities, and by the time he got them back into the dressing room at the break, he will have been relieved they had not been mauled further.
It took Korea just seven minutes to get their noses in front in the encounter when Jung-soo met Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-yueng's swinging free-kick unopposed and volleyed it gleefully into the back of the net.
Greece's woes might have increased further with Bolton's Lee Chung-yong astonished not to be awarded a 15th-minute penalty for a clumsy challenge from behind by full-back Vasilis Torosidis as referee Michael Hester waved play on.
But it would have been 2-0 with 28 minutes gone had defender Avraam Papadopoulos not got in a last-ditch challenge on striker Chu-young as he shot to allow keeper Tzorvas to make a vital block.
Greece had started the game brightly, Torosidis firing wide when he met skipper Georgios Karagounis' second-minute corner with an instinctive half-volley, but it was largely downhill from there.
The anticipated aerial onslaught never materialised as central defenders Jung-soo and Cho Yong-Hyung coped admirably with front two Gekas and Angelos Charisteas.
Enterprising
By contrast, Korea were enterprising in their movement and strikers Chu-young and Yeom Ki-hun, with support from a fluid midfield quartet, kept the Greek defence at full stretch.
They increased their lead within seven minutes of the restart when Ji-sung made the most of Vyntra's woeful control in the middle of the park to race in on goal, leaving the central defender and partner Papadopoulos for dead before sliding a shot across Tzorvas and into the bottom corner.
Rehhagel, who had replaced Karagounis with Christos Patsatzoglou at the break, withdrew Charisteas and Georgios Samaras in quick succession and asked Dimitrios Salpingidis and Pantelis Kapetanos to find a way back into the game.
But Chu-young headed just over from full-back Cha Du-ri's 63rd-minute cross as the Koreans threatened to run riot.
Gekas acrobatically fired high over after controlling a long ball well on his chest with 68 minutes gone and Salpingidis headed weakly at the keeper two minutes later with time fast running out for Greece.
The Hertha Berlin frontman forced a fine one-handed save from Jung with a left-foot shot on the turn with nine minutes remaining, but Yeom, Chung-yong and Kim Jung-woo all went close at the other end as time ran down.
