South Korea took their first Olympic soccer medal with goals from Park Chu-young and skipper Koo Ja-cheol that secured the bronze when they beat Asian rivals Japan 2-0 on Friday.
The soccer tournament has been marked by massive crowds and more than 56,000 watched a fiercely fought battle at the Millennium Stadium between the two beaten semifinalists, settled by goals on either side of halftime.
The game also produced seven yellow cards, four for the Koreans and three for Japan.After weathering some early pressure from the Japanese, Park put the Koreans ahead when he powered through on goal and fired past Japan keeper Shuichi Gonda at the near post after 38 minutes.
Japan came back strongly at the start of the second half but did not take their opportunities and found themselves 2-0 down when Koo doubled Korea’s lead in the 57th minute.