South Korea's dream has run its course, with a one to zero loss to Germany in a quarter-final match held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Michael Ballack scored on the rebound of his own shot in the 75th minute ... ending South Korea's dream of becoming the first Asian team in a World Cup final. Four minutes earlier, Ballack was given a yellow card for tripping Lee Chun-soo on the edge of the German area. This means he will miss the final, after picking up two cards since the group stages.

Germany will face the winner of the Brazil vs. Turkey semifinal scheduled for Sunday in Yokohama, Japan and Korea will battle the other team for third place overall.

South Korea's best chance was Lee Chun-soo's curling 15-yard shot in the eighth minute, which was batted away by goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who dived to his right. The crowd groaned when South Korea's last best chance, Park Ji-sung's shot in second-half injury time, went well high and wide right.

Germany, a three-time champion, outshot South Korea 5-to-2, but goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae was not seriously tested. The South Koreans were more physical, outfouling the Germans 10-to-5 and withstanding four German corner kicks.

Germany has now advanced to its seventh World Cup final and its first as a unified nation. West Germany has won three titles, the last in 19-90.

South Korea is the first Asian team ever to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

A capacity crowd of 64,000 mostly red-clad supporters were joined by millions of roaring fans in streets of major cities across the nation ... cheering for their national team to extend its World Cup dream by advancing to the championship game.