South Korea, led by Tottenham star Son Heung-min and with Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng wearing the captain's armband, controlled possession and pressed in search of a second goal after the break.īut a succession of substitutions as the game wore on interrupted the flow of the contest and Northern Ireland, missing the likes of regular captain Steven Davis and centre-forward Kyle Lafferty due to injury and with highly rated young Norwich fullback Jamal Lewis making his debut, pounced to snatch victory through debutant Paul Smyth with four minutes remaining. Kwon Chang-hoon opened the scoring in the seventh minute for the Asian heavyweights, Northern Ireland equalising by forcing a Kim Min-jae own goal from a clever set-piece 13 minutes later. Northern Ireland came from behind to defeat South Korea 2-1 and inflict an early blow in the visitors' preparations for the World Cup finals.
