Substitute Ahn Jung-Hwan was once again South Korea's hero as Dick Advocaat's side came from behind to beat ten-man Togo 2-1.

Ahn had been one of the heroes four years ago when he scored against Italy as South Korea reached the semi-finals of the World Cup finals on home soil and he grabbed the winner against Togo with a deflected 72nd minute effort.

But the match turned on a 53rd minute incident when Jean-Paul Abalo was rightly dismissed after hacking down Park Ji-Sung who had a clear run on goal. There was no debate about the decision as the Togo player had already been booked.

From the resulting free-kick Lee Chun-Soo left Kossi Agassa standing as he curled his effort home but it was tough luck on the Sparrowhawks who showed a lot of spirit considering their chaotic build-up to the game.

Their German coach Otto Pfister resigned last Friday but made a dramatic U-turn 72 hours later and was in charge for the clash in Frankfurt.

However, they were still regarded as the minnows of the tournament after losing all three of their African Cup of Nations encounters earlier this year.

A dreadful first half was summed up in the 29th minute when the crowd got excited after South Korea had been awarded a throw-in but a rare moment of class two minutes by Mohamed Kader gave Togo the lead.

The Guingamp striker raced past two static South Korea defenders before guiding his shot expertly past Lee Woon-Jae. It was the first shot on target and the high quality of the strike was not in keeping with the rest of the half.

In the 36th minute South Korea won the first corner of the match but Choi Jin-Cheul's header was cleared by Ludovic Assemoassa.

Just before the interval Cherif-Toure Mamam's curling free-kick was turned over the bar for a corner by Lee Woon-Jae, the first good save either keeper had been forced to make.

However, the second half was much better as the match opened up, particularly after Abalo's red card.

Togo refused to lie down despite their numerical disadvantage, but Emmanuel Adebayor endured a difficult afternoon and he was outshone by the outstanding Kader.

Brest midfielder Moustapha Salifou blasted two efforts over the crossbar and Kader was also off-target with a long-range effort as Togo showed their character, but it was not enough as South Korea won their first World Cup finals game on foreign soil.