Anchor: Team Korea failed to advance to the Round of 16 in the Brazil World Cup, after a 1-0 loss to Belgium in the final Group H match. The Belgians rested some of their key players, as they came into the match having already sealed their place in the next round. One Belgian player was sent off in the match, but Korea was unable to capitalize against the 10-man backup Belgian side.
Our Eugene Hwang has more.
 
Report: South Korea failed to advance to the Round of 16 in the Brazil World Cup, after a 1-0 loss to Belgium at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo on Friday morning Korea Time.

The match was a must win for the Korean side, but the team was unable to generate many scoring chances in the first half. After Belgium’s Steven Defour was red carded in the 44th minute, there was hope for Korea in the second half.

But with Korea going all out on offense, they were very vulnerable to the Belgian counterattack. Divock Origi created a chance for Belgium, firing a strong shot in the 78th minute which goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu parried, but the ball landed right in front of an on-rushing Jan Vertonghen who tapped it into the net to seal the win for Belgium.

Team Korea entered the match in last place in Group H with one point. In order for the team to advance they would have needed to not only defeat the Belgians by a large margin, they would also have needed a Russian win or draw against Algeria in the other Group H match being played at the same time.

Tim Alper, a columnist for South Korean monthly football magazine Best 11, says manager Hong Myung-bo may well become a World Cup-level coach one day, but it's pretty evident he isn't at that level yet. 
 
[Sound bite: Football Columnist Tim Alper, Best 11 magazine]
“His tactics were naive - playing an outdated 4-2-3-1 formation proved ineffective against Korea's more tactically-astute opponents… Most of the substitutions he made during the tournament also had very little impact and occurred too late in the matches to really make a difference.”

After the match, Hong agreed, while adding his young squad has enough potential to bounce back.
 
[Sound bite: Manager Hong Myung-bo, Korean National Football Team (Korean)]
“We were counterattacked as expected... We risked that because we needed to score… We weren’t good enough, especially I wasn’t good enough. But the players are young and their future is brighter than now…
I think they had a very good experience through this World Cup…”

Seventeen out of 23 players on Team Korea are playing overseas, making it the most international squad to represent the country at a World Cup. They were also the youngest Korean team at a World Cup, with their average age at 26 years and three months old.
 
Korea was Asia’s last hope to record a win at the Brazil World Cup. The other three Asian teams - Japan, Iran and Australia – also went winless, and all were eliminated as the last place team in their respective groups.
 
The tournament in Brazil was Korea’s eighth consecutive World Cup, and ninth overall. The team made it as far as the semifinals on home soil in 2002, and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time on foreign soil in 2010 in South Africa.
Eugene Hwang, KBS World Radio News.
 
Anchor lead out: Following a 1-1 draw between Russia and Algeria in the other Group H match, Algeria is through with four points, including three from their 4-2 victory over Korea, while Russia finished third with two points and was also eliminated. Group G was also decided, with Germany and the United States advancing. Belgium will face the U.S, in their first knockout match, while Algeria will play the Germans.