World Cup 2010: Huh Jung-moo praises 'true Koreans'

Highlights - Uruguay 2-1 South Korea

South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo has described his players as "true Koreans" after their 2-1 second-round defeat to Uruguay in Port Elizabeth.

"My players never gave up, they were tenacious and rose to the challenge," he said.

His side managed to draw it level after going a goal down, but had no reply to Luis Suarez's 80th minute strike.

"Uruguay were lucky enough to score, we lost because we weren't able to match them," Huh added.

Our players never give up no matter what the situation. We were on a high, we were doing quite well South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo

It was South Korea's first knock-out stage World Cup game off home soil.

"We wanted to go to the quarter-finals and my players did their best but we didn't get there," said the coach.

"We had lots of opportunities and I thought Uruguay was lucky to put in the goals."

The result brings to an end a South Korean campaign that saw impressive displays but failed to match the semi-final heroics of the 2002 campaign in the competition they jointly hosted with Japan.

Huh praised the work-rate of his side who opened their World Cup account with a convincing win against Greece, before losing heavily to Argentina and then emerging from Group B by grinding out a 2-2 draw with Nigeria.

"Our players never give up no matter what the situation. We were on a high, we were doing quite well."