Korea ends British soccer’s Olympic dream

(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)

As South Korea defeated Britain in the semifinal of the men’s soccer at the London Olympic Games on Saturday, the British media expressed its frustration on the result.

The Daily Mail reported the Britain’s loss, saying “one of the greatest days British sport has ever known ended with a sadly familiar quarterfinal penalty shoot-out exit to South Korea in Cardiff.”

The Guardian said, “football was politely ushered towards the ‘and in other news’ slot.”

The Telegraph credited Korea for having “great resilience" and ignoring "the graceless booing by many Great Britain fans.”

British fans criticized their team online.

Some of them said called Britain the “laughing stock of the world” about soccer. One Internet user said, “if they had watched the cool precision of some of the South Korean archers, they would have known it was daft to let it go to penalties.”

Great Britain’s Ryan Giggs said Korea’s good preparation made a difference to the result.

“The Korean lads had played 18 games unbeaten so that’s the sort of preparation they’ve had compared to our preparation,” he said.

British coach Stuart Pearce said Korea deserved to reach the semifinal. He also complimented Korean goal keeper Lee Bum-young.

“Their keeper did very well to get a hand to Daniel’s penalty,” Pearce said.

(khnews@heraldm.com)