South Korea's surprising run at the World Cup football finals has come to an end. Germany scored a 1-0 victory in Seoul.
Before a boisterous sellout crowd of about 65,000 fans who were mostly wearing the home team's red, South Korea and Germany battled up and down the field in a scoreless first half. Each managed only two shots on goal, but the best chance was by the Koreans.
After the break, the pace picked up, but it took 30 more minutes for the Germans to finally score. Oliver Neuville sped down the right side and sent a low crossing pass that split two Korean defenders. The ball rolled to an onrushing Michael Ballack, whose initial shot was saved by the Korean goalie, but the deflection went right back to him, and Ballack easily kicked it into the goal in the 75th minute.
Ballack also had scored the lone goal in Germany's quarterfinal win over the United States last Friday. However, he will miss Sunday's World Cup championship match in Yokohama, Japan, because a few minutes before he scored, he received his second yellow card in the knockout phase of the tournament.
The other World Cup semifinal features Brazil against Turkey. It will be played Wednesday night (1130 UTC) in Saitama, Japan.