SEOUL: South Korea endured a nightmare World Cup send off on Wednesday with defender Hong Jeong-ho leaving the field on a stretcher as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Tunisia.

The 24-year-old Augsburg centre back, who missed the 2012 London Olympics because of a broken leg, was replaced in the 13th minute after picking up what appeared to be an ankle injury following a tackle from behind by forward Issam Jemaa.

Things went from bad to worse for the sloppy hosts as they allowed Zouheir Dhaouadi to burst through their defence and fire home the only goal a minute before halftime to stun the 57,112 suppor-ters at the Seoul World Cup stadium.

The hosts looked flat and short of ideas against the hard-working North Africans and struggled to turn possession into scoring opportunities.

While Tunisia celebrated, this was not the send-off the Taeguk Warriors would have wanted as the 2002 semi-finalists set off for their eighth consecutive World Cup.

South Korea play their final warm-up on June 9 against Ghana in Miami before heading to Brazil where they play Russia, Belgium and Algeria in Group ‘H’.

After a cautious start, South Korean captain Koo Ja-Cheol had the first dangerous attempt from outside the box in the 14th minute, but fired just wide of the right post.

The hosts were shading possession but were not able to threaten. Bayer Leverkusen’s Son Heung-Min got a sight of goal on the half-hour but his shot went straight at goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha.

Tunisia came into the game late in the first half, with Wissem Yahya forcing South Korean ‘keeper Jung Sung-Ryong into a sharp save in the 42nd minute.

And the visitors broke the deadlock two minutes later, when Dhaouadi took the ball in midfield and sprinted virtually uncontested into the area before putting it past the diving Jung.

South Korea came out with more life after the break. On-loan Arsenal striker Park Chu-Young struck a low shot from the edge of the box, but Ben Mustapha parried.

And the home team found themselves frustrated by Tunisia, who put bodies behind the ball to make sure of holding on to their slim lead.

Second-half substitute Ha Dae-Sung nearly equalised at the death, but his shot moments before the whistle skidded wide of the left post.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2014