South Korea line-up: S.R.Jung, Y.H.Cho, J.S.Park (c), J.W.Kim, C.Y.Park (D.J.Kim, 93'), Y.P.Lee, J.S.Lee, S.Y.Ki (J.S.Kim, 87'), C.Y.Lee, K.H.Yeom (N.I.Kim, 87'), D.R.Cha
Nigeria line-up: Enyeama, Yobo (Echijile, HT), Kanu (c) (Martins, 57'), Afolabi, Shittu, Yakubu (Obinna, 70'), Ogbuke Obasi, Etuhu
South Korea make it to the last 16 but most definitely by the skin of their teeth. Nigeria had very good chances to nick the three points but were unable to, allowing Korea to sneak in. Nigeria knew they had to win and were very nearly behind early on, but Bolton's Lee Chung Young just couldn't stretch far enough make enough contact to send it goal bound. After that though it was Nigeria in full control of play and looked to attack and twelve minutes in they were ahead; poor defending by South Korea, which looks to be a major problem for them, allowed a cross to be swung in and Uche baffled Cha Du Ri by coming out of nowhere to put the ball into the corner. Obasi, Kanu and Yakubu created several first half chances but couldn't convert as they looked to fly the flag for Africa. Uche thought he'd grabbed his second but his blast hit the post and came flying back out, maybe the first sign that it wasn't going to be their day. But Nigeria would create their own downfall by giving away an unnecessary free-kick, it was whipped in by Celtic's Ki and Lee Jung Soo was unmarked at the back post to bundle it over the line and bring South Korea level.
Smelling blood, South Korea looked more attacking in the second half and just four minutes into the half they were ahead. Again another unnecessary free-kick conceded by Shittu led to Park Chu Yong to curl around the wall and wrong foot Enyeama as it crept into the corner, possible questions of the goalkeeper needed to be asked here. Yakubu looked set to equalise when he had created space for himself inside the box but a last-ditch tackle from Cho prevented Yakubu from getting the shot away. He had an even more glorious chance minutes later when the ball was squared to him four yards from an empty net, he somehow managed to side foot the ball wide which may just eclipse Govou's miss against Uruguay. Three minutes later he was able to redeem himself when substitute Kim Nam Il again unnecessarily conceding a penalty when he should have just cleared his lines, up stepped Yakubu and he coolly placed it into the opposite corner from the diving Jung, making scores level at 2-2. Again Nigeria had chances to nick it, most notably from Martins who just couldn't find the target from numerous great chances.
So South Korea were left to celebrate and Nigeria became yet another African casualty. Again though I have to blame manager Lars Lagerback for Nigeria's downfall. For me not to start with the attacking threats of Yakubu, Martins, Uche and Odemwingie seems absurd. All four possess a great goal scoring threat and would have caused many defences problems. I don't Kanu should have started, he was a great player in his prime but he's getting on a bit and hasn't got the pace to start a game. He's definitely a impact substitute now and would do a fantastic job from it I'm sure.
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