South Korea advances to the second round; draws Nigeria 2-2

Lee Jung-Soo and Park Chu-Young each scored as South Korea was able to draw Nigeria 2-2 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday and advanced to the round of 16 because of an Argentine victory over Greece.

South Korea finished second in the Group B standings, and their four points was just one better than Greece’s. They finished the group stage with a record of 1-1-1, and their lone win during group play proved to be key because it was a 2-0 victory against Greece.

The Greeks needed a win to keep their World Cup dreams alive but, unfortunately for them, they lost 2-0 on Tuesday to Argentina who won all three of their opening games.

Lee Jung-Soo scored in the 38th minute for South Korea after Chinedu Ogbuke took a bad yellow card from a messy tackle on Lee Young-Pyo.

That would setup a free kick from Ki Sung-Yeung just outside the left corner of the Nigerian box who was able to hook the ball inside that Lee Jung-Soo eventually found and headed in from an impossible to save angle for the goalkeeper.

The Park Chu-Young goal occurred in the 48th minute on a brilliant strike from a free kick opportunity a few yards outside the box. Park Chu-Young bent the ball form right-to-left to avoid the wall and beat a diving Vincent Enyeama who was caught leaning the wrong way.

Nigeria was able to find the back of the net in the 12th and 69th minute with goals from Kalu Uche and Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

The Uche goal was manufactured from a very nice cross from Chidi Odiah and a great run by Uche, who was able to sneak in behind Korean defender Cha Du-Ri and then tip the ball home with his right foot.

Yakubu scored on a penalty kick, beating the keeper Jung Sung-Ryong with bottom left corner shot. The penalty was called on Kim Nam-Il for an overly aggressive tackle on Ogbuke.

Just a few minutes before that penalty kick goal however, Yakubu squandered a golden chance to tie the game up a little sooner.

Yussuf Ayila made a great cross right to a waiting Yakubu right in front of the net but the Nigerian forward just completely missed the net when he really should have easily tapped the ball in for an easy score.

The tie was the only point that Nigeria recorded in the World Cup, and they will be forced to watch the rest of the tournament from the sidelines.

South Korea’s next game will be in the knockout round against Uruaguay on June 26 at 10:00 AM EST.

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By: Steve Loung
Posted: Jun 22 2010 9:34 pm
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Filed under: 2010 World Cup
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