Germany started the match the stronger of the two with Carsten Ramelow taking a shot, which Lee Woon-jae easily handled. A dangerous cross by Bernd Schneider followed this up, but again Lee was up to the task. A swift counterattack by Korea, however, brought the first clear chance of the match as Lee Chun-soo fired an accurate first time shot that forced Oliver Kahn into a magnificent diving save.

Using their superior speed, Korea constantly harried the defense, but missed a superb chance when an open Park Ji-sung only managed to roll the ball to Khan in the 17th minute. A long ball immediately after, found Oliver Neuville in the clear, only for him to fire directly at Lee.

The two sides continued to battle away in midfield with neither gaining the upper hand, until a foul by Kim Tae-young on Miroslav Klose brought a free kick, which, on the receiving end, Neuville blasted a no-hoper.

Korea then won a couple of corners, but the German defense held steady and then launched a series of counterattacks at the Korean goal only to find the back line as equally impassible as the half drew to a close.

The second half started as the first ended with both teams enjoying balanced possession, but failing to capitalize on chances, with Marco Bode heading wide of the Korean goal in the 49th minute.

Ahn Jung-hwan came on in the 54th minute followed by Lee Min-sung as coach Guus Hiddink strengthened the frontline in a bid to find the net. However, it was Germany who came closer with three shots from Klose (two) and Schneider, as Korea seemed to run out of steam. Oliver Bierhof came on for Klose shortly after in the 70th minute. Three minutes later Song Chong-kuk fired a fierce shot at the German goal, only for Kahn to gather confidently.

Germany finally broke the deadlock after a cross from Neuville, which Michael Ballack smashed on target for Lee to save, but buried the rebound into the net at point blank range.

Korea piled on the pressure as they vainly tried for an equalizer, winning to quick corners, which Kah easily handled. Seol Ki-hyeon came on for Hong Myung-bo, and Jens Jeremies replaced Schneider five minutes before regulation time was up to try and shut out the Koreans. Neuville earned a yellow card for simulation, when he dived in the box following a challenge by Lee.

Rapid fire shots by Lee Young-pyo and Park, the latter slicing the ball wide from in front of the goal, proved to be the last gasp for the Koreans as the whistle went after four minutes of stoppage time, ending their giant killing run.

(Chris Price, chris@chosun.com )