Shanghai Star. 2002-06-27

Germany's Michael Ballack celebrates his goal against South Korea in the second half of the World Cup semi-final match in Seoul, June 25. Germany stopped South Korea's dream run with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday to reach the World Cup final for a seventh time.

YOKOHAMA, Japan - Michael Ballack ended the most astonishing story in World Cup history on Tuesday when his second-half goal sealed Germany's 1-0 victory over co-hosts South Korea and a place in their seventh final.

The midfielder's 75th minute goal destroyed the dreams of millions of Koreans who took to the streets to watch the game on big screens in one of the biggest parties in Asia's experience.

Korea began their campaign having never won a match in their five previous appearances at the tournament and were 150-1 outsiders to pick up football's most prestigious prize.

The Germans, champions in 1954, 1974 and 1990 and runners-up in 1966, 1982 and 1986, will play four-times champions Brazil in Sunday's final in the Japanese city of Yokohama.

It is the first final that the Germans, the hosts of the next World Cup finals in 2006, will contest as a reunited country. Remarkably, they have never met four-times winners Brazil at the tournament despite the countries' impressive records.

Ballack, however, will miss the biggest occasion in soccer through suspension after picking up a yellow card four minutes before the goal. It was his second caution of the knockout phase.

"I have to take my hat off to Michael Ballack," Germany coach Rudi Voeller said. "He had to make that foul knowing that he would not make the final. We now have to go and win the Cup for him."

Inspired coach

"For me it is tough that I can't play. When the dream of playing in the World Cup final is destroyed, it is the most bitter pill for a footballer to swallow," Ballack said.

"But I am delighted the team has done it. We were not among the favourites before the tournament. But we believed in ourselves. We have got a good team."

Inspired by their Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, the Koreans beat three big European teams on their way to the last four - Portugal, Italy and Spain - the biggest run of upsets in the 72-year-old history of the competition.

Nicknamed the "Germans of Asia" because of their determination and stamina, the Koreans, Asia's first semifinal representatives, matched Germany for much of the game, roared on by 65,000 fervent fans dressed in the national colour red.

But the Germans, who needed to contest a playoff against the Ukraine to get to the finals after finishing behind England in their qualifying group, kept up their unrivalled reputation for efficient but far from brilliant performances.

It was a remarkable achievement for Voeller, who played a key role in the 1990 final which took place before West and East Germany were reunited after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in 1990 with a penalty given after a foul on former striker Voeller who has rescued German football from despair after the country's dismal performance at Euro 2000 when they crashed out in the first round.

Huge party

Korean police said 7 million people - one in seven of the population - were out on the streets across the country watching the match on huge screens. Around half of the 48 million population watched the game.

At least 1 million supporters, most dressed in red T-shirts - the national team's colours - gathered at 10 sites in the capital Seoul alone, including an astonishing 810,000 near the city hall. They screamed at every attack from their team.

The Korean excitement will be remembered as one of the most remarkable sights in World Cup history and they have another chance to celebrate at the third place playoff on Saturday.

German cities echoed to chants of "Deutschland, Deutschland" on Tuesday as thousands celebrated their country's return to the soccer elite with a 1-0 victory over South Korea to reach the World Cup final.

Revellers spilling their beer danced on bar tables and piled into streets, setting off firecrackers, blowing whistles, draping themselves in German flags and honking car horns.

"We played fantastically. One chance at goal and we scored," said one ecstatic fan, Mario Tarun, as Berlin's central Potsdamer Platz square was transformed into a sea of black, red and gold, Germany's national colours.

In Berlin a bank robber took advantage of the pandemonium sweeping the city during the final frenzied moments of the match, police said.

The gunman entered a bank in the central Kurfuerstendamm shopping avenue about five minutes before the match ended and demanded money.

"The bank robber collected the money and was able to escape undetected," a police spokesman said.

In the western city of Duesseldorf, police detained 50 excited fans for setting off fireworks inside a shopping centre.

The celebrations marked collective relief after early exits from the 1994 and 1998 World Cup tournaments and an ignominious struggle to qualify for this tournament shattered the country's status as traditional heavyweight of the game.

Now Germany's soccer world is in order again.

In Korea, June 25 has been a poignant date for many years because the Korean War broke out that day in 1950.

But the Koreans kept on partying even after the defeat. After two minutes' pause, spectacular fireworks erupted over Seoul at the end of the game. Fans carried on screaming and dancing.

(Agencies via Xinhua)