By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter

South Korea's chances of advancing to the next stage of the Olympic football tournament are in serious jeopardy after it lost 3-0 in its Group D match against Italy Sunday night at the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Qinhuangdao, China.

With the loss, the Koreans' record in the tournament fell to 0-1 with one draw, putting them in third out of four teams in their group, behind Italy (2-0) and Cameroon (1-0-1), while Honduras (0-2) is in fourth.

The teams each have one group match remaining, with South Korea scheduled to play Honduras Wednesday. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.

South Korea, making its sixth straight appearance in the Olympics, gave up two goals against Italy in the first half. The first score came when Giuseppe Rossi kicked in a goal in the 15th minute, and Tommaso Rocchi booted in the second goal in the 32nd.

Riccardo Montolivo added a second-half goal in the 90th minute to help Italy seal the win and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.

jonsanfilippo@koreatimes.co.kr