Klinsmann's wings clipped

By Mark Bennett

Korean Republic 3-1 Germany
Jürgen Klinsmann suffered the first defeat of his reign as Germany coach as his side lost in the Korean Republic on Sunday.

Early lead
Korea took an early lead through Dong-Jin Kim on 16 minutes and although Michael Ballack levelled the scores before half-time, second-half goals from Dong-Gook Lee and Jae-Jin Cho sealed Klinsmann's first defeat.

Numerous changes
The Germany coach shuffled his pack following the 3-0 win over Japan in midweek. Philipp Lahm, Andreas Hinkel and Arne Friedrich all came into the German defence at the expense of Christian Schulz, Per Mertesacker and Patrick Owomoyela. Kevin Kuranyi was paired with Miroslav Klose in attack, leaving no room for Gerald Asamoah.

Friedrich failure
Kim's goal came from the first real chance of the game. Friedrich failed to satisfactorily dispose of a cross and Kim pounced to give Korea the lead with a neat volley. However, the Germans were level before the break when Ballack, making his 50th international appearance, curled a stylish free-kick past goalkeeper Woon-Jae Lee.

Germans denied
Lahm and Klose both had chances to give Germany the lead but were denied by the goalkeeper and Korea made Germany pay 19 minutes from the end when former SV Werder Bremen striker Dong-Gook Lee unleashed a vicious volley on the turn and Oliver Kahn was beaten for the second time.

Missed penalty
Ballack squandered the chance to salvage a draw five minutes from time when a handball gifted the Europeans a penalty. But Woon-Jae Lee made a comfortable save from the spot and Korea rubbed salt in the wound two minutes later when Cho tapped in to complete Korea's revenge for their 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-final defeat.