Togo coach Otto Pfister blamed poor finishing and Jean-Paul Abalo's sending off for his side's 2-1 World Cup Group G defeat against South Korea in Frankfurt.

The Sparrowhawks led at the interval thanks to Mohamed Kader's strike, but the game changed when Abalo was shown a second yellow card for hacking down Park Ji-Sung eight minutes after the restart.

Lee Chun-Soo levelled from the resulting free-kick, before Ahn Jung-Hwan netted the Korean winner 18 minutes from time.

"My team gave a good performance," said Pfister.

"The Koreans had three or four chances, we had four or five. When you don't score you lose.

"Early in the game there was little difference between the teams. When you get a red card, then it becomes hard."

South Korea coach Dick Advocaat admitted his players had not been at their best, but praised their reaction to falling behind.

"To be fair, the players were very calm at half-time even though they were behind," said the Dutchman.

"In the second half we took some risks and it was a success.

"It is so important to win your first game because it normally means you stay in the tournament for the second round."