South Korea have beaten World Cup debutantes Togo 2-1 in their Group G match in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

Togo’s Eperviers took a 1-0 lead into half-time after a terrific strike from Mohammed Kader, but after Togo had a man sent-off in the second-half, strikes from Lee Chun Soo and Ahn Jung Hwan saw Korea seal their win.

Both teams started the game very tentatively, with no real chances for either side, and with wayward passing from both sides.

Manchester United’s Park Ji Sung was unceremoniously brought down for a free-kick, but even though the Togolese goalkeeper Kossi Agassa fumbled, there was no Korean support.

A free-kick for the Koreans in the 25th minute that went high from a dangerous area just outside the penalty area, was the best that the Koreans could muster in the first-half, with chances few and far between.

Togo’s Mohammed Kader broke the deadlock in the 31st minute to score Togo’s first ever goal in the World Cup Finals for Togo’s Esperviers, with a wonderful strike.

Kader latched onto a through ball, broke through the two defenders and shot across Korean keeper Lee Woon-Jae, with the ball going in off the far post for a spectacular debut goal.

Lee Woon-Jae then made another fine save from a free-kick to deny Togo a second goal late in the first-half, and the teams went into half-time with Togo the stronger side.

Kader, who was by far the biggest threat for the Togolese, forced another good save from Lee Woon-jae, which almost doubled the score for Les Eperviers.

But just as Togo were getting to grips with the game, Jean-Paul Abalo was sent-off in the 53rd minute for bringing down Park Ji-Sung just outside the penalty area, after receiving a second yellow card.

The resulting free-kick saw South Korea equalise, with a wonderful strike from Lee Chun Soo, swerving the ball over the wall, past Agassa and into the top corner.

This sparked the game to life, with chances at both ends, but with United’s Park ji-Sung leading by example against the ten-men of Togo.

Agassa was forced into another fine save, punching the ball away from substitute Ahn Jung Hwan’s head after a beautifully placed cross.

The Togolese, even though a man down, really pushed for a second goal, still using two strikers up-front, and remaining a threat to the Koreans.

But, the sacrifice of two strikers meant that they were short in defence and the Koreans took the lead just three minutes later with a long-range strike from Ahn Jung-Hwan in the 71st minute, after a lovely build-up from the former World Cup hosts, which took the slightest deflection and flew past Agassa into the top corner.

From then on, Korea dominated possession, but the World Cup newcomers weren’t going to go down with out a bit of a fight and tried to pursue an equaliser.

But their attempts were not enough and the Korean’s kept possession until the final whistle, much to the chagrin of the travelling fans.

With the win, South Korea have now won their first-ever match on foreign soil and will be hoping to cause an upset when they face France and Switzerland.

Togo can feel hard done by by the loss, after having put in an extremely good debut performance in the Finals, but now struggle with the same uphill task that the Koreans face.