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Spain beat Korea Republic in International friendly match

European champions Spain eked out a 1-0 victory above Korea Republic in a FIFA Globe Cup™ finals warm-up match right here on Thursday.

The match had promised to get an thrilling meeting, with Spain hoping to exorcise the ghosts of the 2002 FIFA Globe Cup, once they had been stunned by Korea Republic inside a controversial quarter-final where the Spaniards had two goals disallowed.

But the two sides failed to impress in the course of much on the game, with just eight days to go prior to the tournament kicks away, in spite of a late target by Jesus Navas. Playing previous to a packed home, Spain took the opportunity to provide actively playing time to a lot of of their injured players, although Korea Republic failed to convert some excellent attempts.

Korean coach Huh Jung-Moo defended his tactics following the game. "We tried to play quite defensively, when you play towards a stronger group, you must have fun with defensively and use counter-attacks," he stated. "We learnt a couple of items. We experience we played nicely in opposition to Spain, we really feel we did effectively today."

The complement began away cautiously with neither side willing to take any dangers and it mostly stayed that way in the very first half. Korea Republic came closest to scoring first right after 13 moments which has a long-range shot by midfielder Kim Jung-Woo that went wide.

The Koreans seemed in attacking mood at primary, spurred on by a loud contingent of Korean fans. A couple of attempts by the Spaniards however soon sparked more quickly offensive engage in by La Furia Roja. A ball from Sergio Ramos was headed apart soon after 27 minutes, and Cesc Fabregas, back from injury, hit the post which has a very good effort following 35 moments.

The two coaches substituted their goalkeepers at half-time, with Spain bringing in Victor Valdes for Jose Reina even though Korea Republic replaced Lee Woon-Jae with Jung Sung-Ryong. Additional modifications from the Spanish side saw Fabregas make way for Barcelona's Xavi, actively playing only his second match up soon after a lengthy time out as a result of injury.

In what was one from the greatest odds from the online game, Celtic's Ki Sung-Yueng fired in a superb shot on goal soon after 67 mins only for it to get blocked by a team-mate, who accidentally headed the ball away. The pace accelerated in the final 15 minutes with both sides attacking much more consistently and Sevilla winger Navas as a final point netted following 86 mins which includes a glorious 25-yard strike into the top-right corner.

Spain are a single with the favourites to win the FIFA World Cup in South Africa for the first time. Right up until now, their ideal outcome was a fourth-place finish in 1962. Vicente del Bosque's team plays 1 last friendly against Poland on 8 June in Murcia, just before flying down to South Africa, where they are going to face Switzerland, Honduras and Chile in Group H.

South Korea play their 1st group complement versus UEFA EURO 2004 winners Greece on 12 June in Durban, followed by games towards two-time FIFA Earth Cup winners Argentina and Nigeria.