South Korea drew 0-0 with 10-man Turkey, led by Dutchman Guus Hiddink who coached the Asian team to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, in a friendly held Wednesday in the Turkish port city of Trabzon.
In the friendly at Huseyin Avni Aker Stadium, the South Koreans were not able to capitalize on their numerical advantage against Turkey, whose captain Emre Belozoglu was red carded early in the second half.
The head-to-head record improved to one win, two draws and four losses against Turkey.
The meeting was South Korea's first friendly match after its two veteran footballers -- Park Ji-sung of Manchester United and Lee Young-pyo of Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal -- announced their retirement from international play after finishing third at the Asian Cup last month.
"We had to make up for Park and Lee, and Lee Chung-yong (Bolton Wanderers) and Cha Du-ri (Celtic FC) could not play and I was worried that our young players would feel the absence of them and falter," said coach Cho Kwang-rae. "But they managed not to lose control of the game. They did a good job."
Without those two players, South Korea struggled to stifle Turkey's attack throughout the game and failed to create many scoring opportunities.
In the 11th minute, Hamit Altintop fired a long-range shot that threatened, but South Korean goalie Jung Sung-ryong saved it.
South Korea managed to impose themselves on the match in the 26h minute with a shot from Nam Tae-hee, but it went wide.
In the second half, South Korea gained an advantage after Emre got two consecutive yellow cards in two minutes for tackling Korean midfielder Koo Ja-cheol.
Hiddink said that his former team needs to produce star players like Park Ji-sung in order to make its presence felt on the international football stage.
The Dutch coach had taken the helm of South Korea and led the team to the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Then he brought Park and Lee Young-pyo to his next club PSV Einthoven of the Netherlands and helped them to move to the English Premier League.
He said that South Korean players are physically fit and well organized with fighting spirit and speed as they had been in 2002 but they now need superstars who control the game and lead the young players on the pitch.
With two or three footballers playing in prominent European clubs, South Korea will see much improvement and become one of the most competitive teams in the world, said Hiddink. (Yonhap)