Great Britain were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Olympic
football tournament by South Korea after losing a dramatic penalty
shoot-out.
Daniel Sturridge saw his penalty saved by substitute keeper Lee Bumyoung as GB lost the shoot-out 5-4 in Cardiff.
Ji Dong-won had earlier given South Korea a deserved lead with a long-range strike before GB were awarded two first-half spot kicks.
Aaron Ramsey scored with the first but saw a second saved by Jung Sungryong.
Following the elimination of the women's team on Friday
it means there will be no football medals for GB at the 2012 Games,
while the future of a unified GB team at other Games remains uncertain.
It was a disappointing end to a campaign that had seen Stuart Pearce's team top their group and show signs of improvement through the tournament, but their defeat means they miss out on a semi-final tie against Brazil in Manchester on Tuesday.
Pearce had opted to stick with the same XI that defeated Uruguay in Cardiff on Wednesday but it was a less than convincing performance for long periods by GB, especially during the first half.
Jack Butland did well to make a one-handed save to turn a 20-yard strike from Ji around the post and Park Chu-young should have headed his team in front but missed the target after rising above Joe Allen at the far post.
But their promising start was rewarded when Butland failed to stop a powerful strike from Sunderland's Ji shortly before the half-hour mark after the 21-year-old had taken one touch to control a pass from Ki Sung-yueng.
In contrast, GB had offered virtually nothing going forward as they struggled to generate any kind of attacking momentum.
However, they were handed a chance to equalise when a low strike from Ryan Bertrand hit the arm of substitute Oh Jae-suk as he tried to block the shot.
Ramsey was fortunate to see his penalty squeeze under the dive of Jung 10 minutes before the break but his luck ran out shortly afterwards when GB were awarded another spot kick after Hwang Seok-ho was adjudged to have bought down Daniel Sturridge.
Once again Ramsey had a lengthy wait to take his penalty. The Wales captain this time sent his spot kick to the keeper's left but Jung got down low to save.
If GB struggled to open up their opponents
in the first half, they ran at their opponents with a lot more
conviction from wide areas after the restart.
Tom Cleverley was inches away at the near post from
converting a low Craig Bellamy cross and later turned provider, with a
free-kick from out wide that saw Micah Richards clash with Jung in the
South Korea goal.
Both players were injured as they went for the ball and were substituted after failing to respond to treatment.
There were half chances and promising moves that broke down for both teams but the next clear-cut opening came shortly after the start of extra time and GB were once again spared by poor Korean finishing.
Butland parried a strike from Koo Ja-cheol and Ji rose above the static Neil Taylor to head at goal, but missed the target from eight yards.
There was a further chance for Ji before he was withdrawn, but he once again missed with a header after a corner found him unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.
There was an inevitability as the match crept towards a shoot-out - and even more so about the result.
The first eight penalties were converted before Lee dived to his left to deny Sturridge and Ki sealed victory with his spot kick.
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