Korea out of World Cup with 2-0 loss to Switzerland

South Korea exited the World Cup on Friday after a controversial goal by Alexander Frei sealed a 2-0 win for Switzerland and their passage to the Round of 16 with Group G runners-up France. Switzerland striker Frei, a center forward for French side Rennes, rounded keeper Lee Woon-jae then flicked home in the 77th minute after several Koreans had stopped play due to the assistant referee calling for offside, only for Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo to wave them on.

Korea needed to win to guarantee a berth in the second round but a 23rd minute header from Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos dampened their hopes and Frei added the final nail in the 77th to make it 2-0, spurring vigorous protests to disallow the goal and leaving Korea third in the group with four points. France's 2-0 defeat of Togo on the same day on goals by Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry put the 1998 champions second with five points, two behind Switzerland, to also secure their second-round berth.

African debutants Togo were sent packing after losing three straight matches. Korea coach Dick Advocaat top-loaded the team with strikers in the second half, a tactic that paid off with a 2-1 comeback win over Togo and 1-1 draw with France in earlier group matches, but admitted that it left gaping holes in their defense. "They controlled the first half. We tried to make things difficult for them with five or six strikers and gave them a lot of pressure." "We started with four strikers, and at the international level, that's quite dangerous. And that allowed them to play how they did and they kept attacking on counters." Speaking at a post-match press conference, Swiss coach Kobi Kuhn praised his opponents for making the team grind out a difficult win.

"The match was very intensive and tough, it was a hard match for us and they are very strong. "There were a couple of dangerous situations, and we were very lucky in controlling the game. We just did a good job in front and back." Friday's result is a turnaround from 2002, when Korea made a shock run to the semi-finals in the event they co-hosted with Japan before crashing out to Germany. France were knocked out after three games, including a 1-0 loss to Senegal. France will face Group H leader Spain on Tuesday.

Switzerland failed to make it to both France 98 and Korea/Japan 2002, only qualifying this time by a razor-thin margin after a playoff against Turkey. They play runner-up Ukraine on Monday. Korea were hoping to beat the odds Friday and came out of the stalls with all guns blasting. Advocaat had partially ensured this by packing the starting line-up with four strikers in a diamond formation. His decision to test FC Seoul's Park Chu-young was unrewarded however and the young striker was later substituted after failing to impress on his World Cup debut.

Midfielder Lee Ho missed a goal-scoring opportunity from inside the box three minutes in by failing to connect with Lee Chun-soo's cross from near the left post, but Switzerland were not to make the same mistake. Senderos made it 1-0 by nodding in Hakan Yakin's 23rd-minute free kick after newcomer Park was yellow carded for bringing down Christoph Spycher. Senderos' goal, his third in 15 international caps, involved a head butt with Korea defender Choi Jin-cheul that left both bleeding and Choi requiring bandages.

Swiss coach Kobi Kuhn took him off early in the second half for Arsenal teammate Johan Djourou. Switzerland were dangerous after the break and playmaker Hakan Yakin was yellow carded for handling the ball after testing goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae on his 100th cap with a bullet shot from near the edge of the area. Korea seemed completely subdued, however, prompting coach Advocaat to pile on the pressure by adding a fifth striker in Duisburg forward Ahn Jung-hwan at the expense of Tottenham full back Lee Young-pyo.

Ahn scored the winner in Korea's 2-1 defeat of Togo earlier but was not so lucky Friday despite several spot-on shots. The change undoubtedly weakened Korea's defense and Frei almost made it 2-0 when he sent a blistering shot off the near post in the 64th. Cho came close to leveling minutes later but his header bounced in front of goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuehler who palmed it over for a corner.

Even the removal of Park for a more experienced pair of legs in Wolverhampton Wanderers' forward Seol Ki-hyeon was not enough to stem the tide and Frei poked his way through a leaky defense to stab the ball home in the 77th for a goal that television replays showed was clearly offside. Advocaat and a clutch of Korean players protested, with two earning yellow cards shortly after.

Germany, Ecuador, England, Sweden, Argentina, the Netherlands, Portugal, Mexico, Italy, Ghana, Brazil and Australia also advanced to the Round of 16, which begins Saturday when host Germany play Sweden in Munich.

Even i really hope korea can make it to the second round, but it really hurt to see them loss that time..but surely im really proud to see how hard they're playing. Do their best for next World Cup..Chaiyoo..Aja aja fighting