World Cup - South Korea 0 Germany 1

Germany won through to the World Cup final but goal scorer Michael Ballack will miss the Yokohama showpiece.

The European side are now in a record seventh World Cup final and Brazil can match that mark if they defeat Turkey tomorrow in the second semi final to contest the trophy in five days.

The winner came in the 75th minute as the co-host's luck ran out.

After a reflex save to deny Michael Ballack’s right foot drive as he ran in to meet an Oliver Neuville cross from the right when the striker had managed to get in his cross under pressure from two players, goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae saw his save land at the feet of Ballack again and the new Bayern Muunich signing finished off by striking the ball on target with his left foot.

Four minutes before Ballack had earned his second booking of the knockout phase by cynically ending a Korean attack as Lee Chun-soo ran from his own half to advance towards the German penalty area for Ballack to bring him down from behind. Swiss referee Urs Meier was right to punish Ballack who responded professionally by sticking to his task on the night of trying to avoid the close attention of Yoo Sang-chul who had marked him out of most of the semi final.

Marco Bode tested Lee with a long range drive from a free kick in the 79th minute with top scorer Miroslav Klose replaced before the goal by veteran Oliver Bierhoff.

Neuville was booked in the 86th minute for diving and the accreditation of an earlier booking in the second round to midfielder Jens Jeremies rather than the Swiss-born forward means he will be available for the final.

Park Ji-sung screwed an injury time chance high and wide from the edge of the penalty area but Germany never looked like conceding a goal in this game and have only conceded one goal all tournament.

A game of few chances saw Korea lock up the German midfield and restrict their chances in the air from corners and free kicks.

The home side had started well with Lee Chun-soo forcing Oliver Kahn to dive and save an angled shot in the 8th minute and Neuville hit a volley straight at lee in the 17th minute but the game was dominated by competent defending.

Choi Jin-chul was exceptional in the heart of the Korean back line but his loss with an injury in the 56th minute perhaps unbalanced the defence but they scarcely offered a chance to the Germans.

A build-up to the game dominated by claims and counter-claims regarding the refereeing favours done to Korea in their last two matches bore no relation to the medium-paced action of the Seoul semi final.

The World Cup has reverted to type after several strange matches – possible German or Brazilian domination.

One real chance and one goal to win the game was the only story this semi final told.