London 2012 Olympics: Curse of Penalties as Team GB Lose Quarter Final to South Korea

The day was dominated by Great Britain's excellent performances in the athletics arena; Team GB wound up achieving a significant milestone in their sporting history - the first time in 104 years Olympians won six gold medals in a single day. None could do wrong... or so it seemed.

The men's football team had other ideas though.

Team GB men lost their quarter final to South Korea after a penalty shootout. Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge missed his kick, which allowed Korean midfielder Ki the chance to kill off the hosts' medal hopes and he gleefully took it. The South Koreans were more consistent and better prepared for the event and gave Jack Butland no chance at saving any of their kicks.

The opening exchanges were completely dominated by the Koreans and Arsenal striker Park-chu Young's header almost gave them an early lead. Meanwhile, Young's fellow Premier League striker, Ji Dong-Won (Sunderland) shot on the turn, only to be denied by Butland. The hosts finally conceded when the normally reliable Birmingham City goal keeper fumbled a long range effort from Ji.

The hosts were then given two golden opportunities to take the lead - two penalties, in quick succession. They were both taken by Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey. The first was a poor shot but just about got past Sung-Ryong Jung in the Korean goal but the second was even worse and this time the Jung had his posts covered. Ramsey's taking of both spot kicks was perhaps not the best choice, given there were more mature heads out there - Manchester United's Ryan Giggs, for one.

In either case, the pace of the game dropped considerably. The Koreans were happy to retain possession and pass the ball around, trying to regain composure after the drama of the two penalties, while the hosts, as is their wont, lacked any real attacking intent - given the situation, one really did expect them to chase the game and force the visitors into an error.

The second half started the same way the first ended and apart from a moment on 50 minutes, when Manchester City's Micah Richards and Korean goal keeper Jung crashed into each other, it took a while for both teams to warm up. Aside from that there were a couple of moments involving Ramsey and Sturridge. The Blues man did not have the best of nights and also wasted a good pass from United's Cleverly, who pulled three defenders to create space for Sturridge only for the latter to fail to control the ball with absolutely no pressure on him. The match finished with the hosts looking to increase the tempo a little and Cleverly and Sturridge did have a few good moments in the final 20 minutes but those were countered with chances for Ji and Sung-Yong.

South Korea will now play Brazil in the first semi final on 7 August at 7.45 pm. The South American giants struggled in their quarter final against the unfancied Hondurans (who've already claimed Spain's scalp) but a brace from Internacional's Leandro Damiao and a spot kick from Santos' wonderkid Neymar were enough to see off the underdogs.

The second semi final will be between Mexico and Japan, at 5 pm on 7 August. The Mexicans saw off a difficult challenge from African nation Senegal, winning 4-2 after extra time. The Asians, meanwhile, were quite at ease in their 3-0 dismantling of Egypt.