Uruguay lead South Korea 1-0 at half-time

Uruguay were leading South Korea 1-0 at half-time in the first of the World Cup’s last 16 ties at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium on Saturday.

South Korea almost caught Uruguay on the hop in the fifth minute when a superbly taken freekick by Park Chu Young from 25m curled past the Uruguayan’s wall only to ricochet off keeper Fernando Muslera’s right post.

Sloppy defending and poor goalkeeping by South Korea contributed to Uruguay taking control of the game three minutes later.

Edinson Cavani was the instigator of the move, the Palermo forward floating a high ball over to the left for Diego Forlan.

The in-form Atletico Madrid striker deftly slipped his marker to drill a sliderule pass across the Korean goalmouth.

Keeper Jung Sung Ryong could have dealt with the danger but he seemed strangely lethargic in his reaction.

That was a pity for him as Luis Suarez was lurking unattended to chip into an open goal from a tight angle by the right hand edge of the box.

Suarez, who plays his club football with Dutch giants Ajax, was taking his goal tally in these finals to two after getting the winner against Mexico.

It took the South Koreans some moments to regain their composure from that shock, but once they did they put together a handful of sharp attacking moves, with Park Chu Young for one forcing a dive out of Muslera.

The winner of this match will go on to face either the United States or Ghana – who play later on Saturday – in the quarter-finals in Johannesburg on July 2.