Ki faces team GB

Ki Sung-Yeung faces Stuart Pearce’s Team GB on Saturday for a place in the Olympic semi-finals- and a definite medal.

The Celtic midfielder played with a bandaged face in the 0-0 draw with Gabon at Wembley as the South Korean’s finished runners-up in Group B with seven points to reach the last eight.

After securing their place in the last eight coach Hong Myung-bo said: “Our goal is to win every game the rest of the way. I know we weren’t able to capitalize on our chances. But games like this should serve as great learning experience for our team.”

This is the third time that South Korea have reached this stage in the competition but they are still awaiting their first Olympic medal.

Saturday’s quarter-final at Cardiff will pit Ki up against Ryan Giggs, Tom Cleverley and Liverpool target Joe Allen.

Team GB beat Uruguay 1-0 to book a return to the Welsh capital with Pearce delighted by the progress of his side.

He said: “I thought all 18 of the players were fantastic, and it excites me to stay in the competition to play at least one more game with this group.

“We are improving game by game, our fitness levels are improving, our understanding is improving and some of the passing, especially in the first half, was outstanding.

“Today has been a fantastic day with Wiggins winning gold and that spreads right across Great Britain, it brings a feelgood factor to the Olympics and we are glad to have played our part this evening and got the result to get out of the group.

“We didn’t watch it (the rowing or the cycling) together as we had to prepare for this game but I fully expect that most of the players, and a lot of the staff, are watching other events.

“We all feel part of it after our experience in the Olympic village. We all feel part of what’s going on.

“I also have to mention the women’s team, them winning yesterday gave us a real good lift by beating Brazil.

“They have been playing a day before us and everytime they have got a good result we are trying to emulate them, which is fantastic.”

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