The European Champions had to wait until four minutes from time to defeat a well-organised South Korea side. A solitary strike from Jesus Navas, his first goal for Spain, secured a victory in Vicente Del Bosque side’s penultimate warm-up match. Fernando Torres watched the full 90 minutes from the bench as his teammates maintained their impressive winning run.

Despite controlling possession, it was the Korean outfit who looked the more dangerous in the opening exchanges. Pepe Reina had to be alert to race off his line to beat Lee Chung-Yong to a loose ball in the box, before Jung Woo tried his luck from a full thirty yards out. His effort fizzing just past the post.

Spain had to wait twenty minutes for their first chance of the afternoon. A long ball over the top found Mata in a yards space, but a last-ditch block from a Korean defender stopped what would have been a certain goal from the Valencia player.

The Red Fury were now enjoying a good spell of possession as Llorente headed Cesc’s free-kick just over the bar.

Cesc came the closest to scoring for Vicente Del Bosque’s team in a tight first-half, but his curled effort from the edge of the area struck the bar with Woom Jae beaten.

Pepe Reina made an excellent double save on the stroke of half-time to keep the scores level. The Liverpool and Spain keeper blocked from Young before saving Ki-Hun’s follow-up.

South Korea looked lively after the restart, but Valdes, making his Spain debut, wasn’t called into action as the Asian side’s attack petered out before reaching Spain’s box.

Javi Martinez, who was having a solid game in the Spain midfield, latched onto a Navas pass in the box, but unluckily for the Athletic Bilbao man his first-time effort flew wide.

The South Korean’s players were beginning to tire as Spain pushed forward in search of a winner. Ryong saved from Navas with his legs, before trapping a Villa drive from outside the penalty box. Villa then had a goalbound effort deflected past the post, and from the resulting corner, Ramos headed over.

Four minutes from time Ryong produced an brilliant reflex save to deny Villa but in the same move Jesus Navas cracked home an unstoppable right-foot effort from outside the box.

The Red Fury will fly back to Spain following the match, where they will end their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Poland next Tuesday in Murcia.


- Match Stats: South Korea 0-1 Spain

South Korea: Woom Jae (Ryong, 46), Jung-Soo, Pyo, Hyung, Beom-Suk, Yong, Yeung, Jung-Woo, Chu-Young, Jae-Sung (Nam-Il, 46), Hwan (Du-Ri, 65)

Spain: Reina (Valdes, 46), Ramos, Albiol, Marchena, Capdevila, Javi Martínez (Silva, 80), Cesc (Xabi Alonso, 58), Iniesta (Xavi, 58), Navas, Mata (Pedro, 58) y Llorente (Villa, 58)

Goals: Navas 86

Photo: Carmelo Rubio (RFEF)