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South Korea knocks Great Britain out of Olympics on penalties

South Korea Olympics (Getty Images)

Like England, Great Britain disappointingly failed to advance past the quarterfinals of a major international tournament on Saturday. And like England, they were eliminated on penalty kicks.

Great Britain felt the pain England have been feeling for so many decades, as they suffered a 5-4 penalty shootout loss to South Korea in the Olympic quarterfinals at Millennium Stadium. Daniel Sturridge missed in the fifth round of the spot kicks, and Ki Sung-Yueng capitalized on the only failed attempt by converting his ensuing chance.

South Korea initially took the lead through Ji Dong-Won in the 29th minute, but the hosts responded when Aaron Ramsey buried a penalty kick seven minutes later. The rest of the game had plenty of chances and free-flowing soccer but no goals, which opened the door for the latest heartbreaking penalty kick defeat for England and the rest of Great Britain.

The loss means Great Britain will not have a chance to pick up a medal in this summer's competition, and it also sets up a semifinals match at Old Trafford between South Korea and Brazil on Tuesday. The other semifinals game between Japan and Mexico will take place earlier that day at Wembley Stadium.

What do you think of Great Britain's penalty kick shootout loss to South Korea? Surprised Great Britain could not put South Korea away in regulation? Wondering what England/Great Britain have to do to break this curse?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Solution:

    Admit you are not actually all that good, and are only mentioned as a “top team” out of some half Eurosnob, half Nostalgia bias.

    Then go rebuild your program from the youth levels up

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  2. service is waived only in specific circumstances and lately ONLY for golds/1st place. previously, the 2002 WC team was one of the few that got exemptions (other than basic training which is required in case war breaks out) for a 4th place finish.

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  3. GB really could have used Beckham on that free kick late in the game. Still – very happy for the Koreans, who pressed hard defensively and did a nice job of spreading the play.

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  4. In GB’s case that is because they had about 5 minutes of practice time together so to expect a bunch of players who were mostly new to each other to have a well developed short passing game under pressure is a bit much.

    I never understood why anyone bothers with trick penalties when the basic shot into either upper corner is nearly unstoppable
    leaglly.

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  5. hahaha.

    i wish.

    but no, today i found out that every South Korean athlete who comes home with a medal from the olympic games is waived from having to do the normal 2-year mandatory military service in SK.

    because of this, and their overall classiness as players (relative to some nations/players out there) I will be rooting for them to AT LEAST get the bronze.

    would be cool to see a brazil v mex final and a japan v s. korea 3rd place game, with a brazil and s.korea win in each.

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  6. I just don’t see Brazil having two bad games in a row. Brazil will beat S.K. but not by a large marging I see a 2-1 win. The game that is really up for grabs is the Japan-Mexico one, Japan is way underrated, I been watching them since their preparation games and I see them beating Mexico 1-0.

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  7. There was no need for sturridge to try to fool the goalkeeper with a trick penalty shot.
    The GB players have average technical skill at best. The England Nats & GB team rely too much on long-ball tactics.

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  8. Tough break for the Brits…I predict 75% of their players will wind up making a fortune running soccer camps over in the US
    “Expert by accents”

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  9. “I think S. Korea will beat Brazil…”

    I stopped reading after that.

    GB is overrated, just like the senior England National Team. South Korea beating GB wasn’t a shock.

    Brazil will roll.

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  10. This might be the worst prediction I’ve ever seen. You are living in a fantasy world if you think South Korea can beat Brazil. I see a 3-0/4-1 curbstomping in the works by Brazil. The winner of the other game will be nothing but a sacrificial lamb to Brazil in the final.

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  11. I thought South Korea deserved a lot of credit for the speed they play with and the commitment they showed to defend as a team and transition quickly to the attack. The injuries took a toll on them, but by and large, I thought they were the most dangerous side for the whole of the match.

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  12. I think S. Korea will beat Brazil, if Brazil plays like they did against Honduras. The Hondurans played hard physical defense, but were undone by the Brazilian foul theatrics which broght in the Yellow Cards and eventual red card(s). While S. Korea plays good team defense, they are more technical than Honduras. If Korea can take Brazil out of fluid, offense like Honduras did, they may well defeat Brazil.

    Mexico has a team that contains several Youth World-Cup Championship players, but you won’t hear that from the woeful NBC game color commentary. It will be much like the Brazil-Korea match. Fluid creativity of Mexico against solid melded with exceptional endurance of the Japanese. In Mexico’s case they have several great goal-scorers and a very solid defense with good goalkeeping. Mexico and S. Korea in the finals.

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  13. For some inexplicable reason they let Ramsey take two penalties during regulation. Both were awful and he only scored one because the keeper made a meal of it.

    If he hits even an average penalty that game doesn’t approach PKs.

    Awful PK from sturridge. He just had to take a normal PK. No need for a tricky stutter step. Just kick the ball in the net.

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  14. did not see this whole game but having watched Englands’ losses in other major tournaments…the solution? AVOID PKs by playing for the win

    boggles my mind why teams complain about being “cursed” if they lose a few shootouts in a row. often their tepid performance in regulation translates directly into weak form during the PKs

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