The South Korean team celebrates after defeating Poland 2-0 in their World Cup Finals match in Pusan yesterday. South Korea won 2-0 to record their first victory in 15 tries at the World Cup. - Reuters

BUSAN, South Korea (AP):

SOUTH KOREA scored their first ever win at a World Cup finals with a 2-0 upset yesterday over Poland that sparked an outpouring of euphoria mixed with relief.

The Korean triumph capped Asian soccer's biggest day at soccer's showcase event, which is being held in Asia for the first time.

Veteran striker Hwang Sun-hong gave the Koreans a 1-0 lead with a 26th-minute strike and midfielder Yoo Sang-chul rocketed a right-foot drive from the edge of the area in the 53rd minute to seal the result.

The first goal sparked a bench clearing celebration at the sideline. The win prompted a victory lap as the Koreans soaked up the raucous cheering of almost 50,000 fans at Busan's Asian Stadium.

The stands were awash in red as the bulk of the crowd was decked in the "Red Devil" supporters' shirts of the national team.

"I feel exhausted, but I'm very happy," said Guus Hiddink, who took over as coach of the South Korea squad last year. "Like I've said for many weeks already, this team is going at its limit.

"I'm very proud of the boys, they did well in taking the control and initiative, which I like very much."

For the entire second half, fans decked mostly in red shirts to support their beloved "Red Devils", chanted: "Oh, Oh, Korea!" "Oh, Pilsung Korea" for the entire second half. The chant translates to: "Korea's sure to win!"

South Korea had gone winless at five previous World Cup finals appearances, but are under enormous pressure to reach the second round here after local organisers spent eight years and billions of dollars to prepare to co-host the tournament with Japan.

The Koreans went into their opening Group D match on a 4-1 win over Scotland, a 1-1 draw with England and a narrow 3-2 loss to defending world champions France in tuneups, but few -- outside South Korea -- expected such a dominating performance against Poland.

Poland were the first European team to qualify -- apart from France who got an automatic spot as defending champions -- after topping their regional qualifying group, but have been patchy since with a home loss to Japan and an uninspiring 1-0 win over Estonia in recent warmups.

The result proved that the draw with England and the close loss to France weren't flukes, Poland coach Jerzy Engel said.

"It was a very difficult game. The host team in the first game is always very strong," Engel said. "They were better than us."

Engel said the Koreans were well organised and will could produce more surprises.

"It was very disappointing for us -- we had two chances in the opening minutes and missed them," he said. "We wanted to win our opening match to challenge for first place in the group. Now this makes it very hard -- we've got to fight for second place to go through."

Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, a stand out for Liverpool in the English Premier League, had two slip ups against the Korean attack.

Hwang, 33, opened his fourth World Cup campaign with a bang, connecting with a neat cross from Lee Eul-yong and driving a left-footed volley beyond Dudek's outstretched hands.

Dudek got both hands to Yoo's drive but didn't get enough purchase to stop the powerful shot.

Although he did make some key saves, tipping Park Ji-Song's curling right-foot volley over the crossbar in the 49th minute and blocking Ahn Jung-hwan's shot in the last minute of regular time.

Ahn, who replaced Hwang in the 51st minute, miscued a shot to the left of goals in the 79th minute that would have had Dudek in trouble and didn't get enough power on to a free kick in the 85th minute to cause much trouble.

Yoo, who'd also found the back of the net in the 38th minute but didn't get the goal because he was ruled offside, was replaced by Lee Chun-soo in the 62nd minute.

The win will give the Koreans huge confidence going into their remaining group matches against the United States and Portugal. Poland, who were considered a favourite to advance to the second round from Group D along with the Portuguese, needs to regroup quickly to have any chance of making the last 16 in their first trip back to the World Cup since 1986.