London 2012 Olympics: Great Britain 1 - 1 South Korea (South Korea win 5-4 on pens): Ki kills off GB dream

One of the greatest days British sport has ever known ended with a sadly familiar quarter-final penalty shoot-out exit to South Korea in Cardiff last night.

Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge missed the vital last kick, allowing Celtic’s Ki Sung-yueng to send South Korea into a last-four meeting with Brazil at Old Trafford on Tuesday. Sturridge was clearly angry and upset as he made his way off the field, although it could be argued Aaron Ramsey was equally culpable as he also missed from the spot in normal time when the Wales midfielder had a chance to put Britain in front.

That Ramsey should score in the shoot-out, having already converted one prior to his failure, just heightened the frustration for a capacity crowd, who had seen Ji DongWon put South Korea in front.

GB were quickly forced onto the back foot by quick, dangerous opponents. It was no surprise the Koreans grabbed the initiative, although, after an eye-catching tournament to date, Jack Butland let himself down by failing to make what, despite the pace of Ji’s shot, appeared a routine save.

Half an hour elapsed before GB put together their first attacking move of any significance and when that ended with an unfortunate ricochet off Craig Bellamy, Stuart Pearce’s men looked to be in for a long night. That assessment reckoned without Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan’s dramatic intervention, who awarded the hosts two penalties in the space of four minutes which should have turned the match on its head. The first was for an obvious handball by Oh Jaesuk as he slid in to block Ryan Bertrand’s shot, earned a booking and triggered a shoving match between the sides as Kim Younggwon scuffed up the penalty spot.

There was more debate about the second as Sturridge went down under minimal contact from Hwang Seokho.

Ramsey has been a decent penalty taker for Wales. On both occasions here, he looked awfully nervous.

Initially, he got away with it as his first shot crept under Jung Sungryong’s body. Second time, the midfielder was not so lucky. Giggs was finally introduced with six minutes remaining but could prevent the outcome.

Great Britain: Butland, Taylor, Richards, Caulker, Bertrand, Cleverley, Allen, Bellamy, Ramsey, Sinclair, Sturridge. Subs: Steele, Rose, Dawson, Giggs, Tomkins, Cork, Sordell.

South Korea: Sung-Ryong Jung, Chang-Soo Kim, Hwang, Young-Kwon Kim, Yun, Jong-Woo Park, Ki, Nam, Koo, Ji, Chu-Young Park. Subs: Lee, Oh, Kee-Hee Kim, Bo-Kyung Kim, Baek, Wooyoung Jung, Hyung-Sung Kim.

Referee: W Perez (Colombia). Attendance: 70,438.