Korea come from behind to deny Togo

South Korea 2 Togo 1:  South Korea came from behind to beat 10-man Togo in the World Cup Group G opener in Frankfurt.

The 2002 semi-finalists had a massive and vocal following but struggled to settle early on and Togo created the first chance when Mohamed Kader rattled a shot over the crossbar.

The Guingamp striker opened the scoring in stunning fashion on 31 minutes, though, controlling a through ball with his right thigh before firing an angled 20-yard drive into the back of the net.

South Korea's 4-5-1 formation was not working and they were thankful to keeper Lee Woon-Jae for pulling off a fine save on 42 to deny Junior Senaya's 18-yard free-kick.

Manager Dick Advocaat rang the changes at the break and sent on Ahn Jung-Hwan, reverting to a 4-4-2 line-up - but Togo were again first out of the traps with Woon-Jae palming Kader's fierce shot around the post.

The game was turned on its head on 53 minutes, though, when referee Graham Poll gave Jean-Paul Abalo a second yellow card for chopping down Park Ji-Sung just outside the box.

And to compound Togo's misery, Lee Chun-Soo curled the resultant free-kick over the wall and past keeper Kossi Agassa to make it 1-1.

Togo's Moustapha Salifou scooped two fine chances over the bar - and those misses proved costly on 72 when sub Jung-Hwan thumped a 20-yard piledriver past Agassa, who denied him a second goal minutes later when he clung on to his low shot.   Agencies