Rio 2016: South Korea Knocked out by Honduras in men's football
Forward Son Heung-min of South Korea looks astray after Honduras scored the match-winning goal in the second-half. Honduras won the game 1-0, knocking South Koreans out of the men’s football quarterfinals in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Saturday. / Yonhap
South Korea were knocked out of the Olympic men's football quarterfinals Saturday with a 1-0 loss to Honduras.
Alberth Elis scored the game's lone goal near the hour mark at Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, some 340 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro.
South Korea won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. It remains the country's only Olympic football medal.
The teams were scoreless at the break, and it wasn't until the final minutes of the first half that South Korea showed any semblance of life on offense.
Forward Son Heung-min took a free kick from just outside the arc, and the curling shot forced goalkeeper Luis Lopez to make a diving save to his right.
During added time, Ryu Seung-woo took a shot that deflected off a body and floated toward the goal, as Lopez made another fine save moving to his right.
In the dying seconds, Jang Hyun-soo's cross found Son for a volley, but Lopez punched it out of harm's way.
Lopez stayed hot to start the second half. Two minutes in, Ryu got deep into the box and set up Son, but Lopez was there to deny him right at the goalmouth.
Lopez frustrated Son again in the 55th. Kwon Chang-hoon dribbled across the top of the box and fed Son, who snuck in behind the defense for an open chance. And he still couldn't solve Lopez, who got just enough of the ball to push it out of bounds.
Three minutes later, Son took a low shot from the right wing that rolled wide of the far post.
With Lopez single-handedly keeping the match scoreless, his teammates on offense came through just before the hour mark.
Off a South Korean turnover, Romell Quioto secured the ball at midfield and penetrated into the South Korean zone. He then fed Elis charging toward the goal, and he calmly put it in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Honduras defender Marcelo Pereira sought to double the lead with a header, only to see it bounce in front of the goal and out of play in the 69th.
Kwon tried to answer for South Korea two minutes later, but his low shot from the middle of the box went right at Lopez for a relatively easy save.
It proved to be the last serious chance for South Korea, as Honduras killed the clock to preserve the one-goal win. (Yonhap)