KWANGJU, South Korea, 23 June — South Korea’s World Cup bandwagon rolled into the semifinals yesterday as the co-hosts took advantage of a linesman’s glaring error to beat Spain 5-3 on penalties after the quarterfinal ended goalless.

The co-hosts looked jaded after a punishing golden goal victory over Italy in the second round and appeared to be on their way out of the tournament three minutes into extra time of a poor quality game.

Joaquin, the 20-year-old winger who had been Spain’s most likely route to victory all night, clipped a ball over from the right for Fernando Morientes to head in at the far post.

South Korea won a reprieve, though, as the linesman had already raised his flag, ruling incorrectly that Joaquin had taken the ball over the goalline before crossing.

Cruelly, it was Joaquin, the youngest player in the Spanish squad, whose weak penalty was saved in the shootout.

South Korean skipper Hong Myung-bo stepped up and calmly converted to make his side the first Asian team to reach the World Cup semifinals, where they will face Germany. That is a remarkable achievement for a nation that had failed to win a single World Cup match in five previous appearances at the finals.

For Spain, it was another miserable end to a World Cup campaign that had promised so much. Spain have never finished higher than fourth, back in 1950, and they have now lost in the quarterfinals on four occasions.

With their leading forward Raul absent because of a groin injury they looked toothless in attack, although they still created the better chances.

The South Korean fans packing the stands had been relatively subdued as the game neared its conclusion and the atmosphere was not quite as intense as in the side’s previous victories over Portugal and Italy.

The supporters, who had created a huge mosaic at one end of the ground proclaiming the side to be “the pride of Asia”, exploded into life, though, when Hong crashed his penalty into the roof of the net.

“These fans are fantastic, without any violence, so I am so happy for them,” South Korea’s Dutch coach Guus Hiddink. “More dreams have come true.”

Hiddink, who had three separate coaching spells in Spain, consoled the Spanish players before celebrating his own side’s victory.

Match officials were surrounded by furious Spanish players at the end of the game in scenes that threatened to turn ugly.

Egyptian referee Gamal Ghandour had also disallowed a Spanish goal in normal time for what looked a marginal off-side decision.

The players spoke with grim resignation after the match, though, as they tried to come to terms with defeat.

“We knew the referee would be like that,” said goalkeeper Iker Casillas. “It is just what we expected.”

For both teams, it was the second time running that they had endured extra time, Spain beating Ireland on penalties and South Korea ousting Italy with a golden goal from Ahn Jung-hwan.

Casillas had been his side’s hero against Ireland but he could do nothing, although he came within a whisker of saving the first South Korea spot-kick from Hwang Sun-hong.

“Last week I said that penalties are a lottery and today I just couldn’t stop any of them,” Casillas shrugged.

Casillas had been forced into just one real save in the match, when he beat away a snap shot from Park Ji-sung on 67 minutes.

A Morientes header gave Spain their first good chance on 27 minutes, goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae clutching the ball gratefully just under his crossbar.

South Korea were getting nowhere, as Ivan Helguera and Ruben Baraja created a formidable barrier in front of the defense and Spain gradually took control of the game.

With halftime approaching, Javi de Pedro flashed a left-foot shot just wide from 20 meters and in injury time Fernando Hierro rose highest in a crowded area to head over.

Spain thought they had taken the lead four minutes into the second half. De Pedro’s free kick cross went in after hitting the back of Kim Tae-young as a group of players went up for a header but the goal was disallowed, apparently for off-side.

With both teams tiring, the match went into extra time and only two minutes into it, Morientes thought he had sent Spain into the semifinals.

Instead, the game went to penalties and the first seven were confidently converted before Joaquin’s weak strike was saved by Lee Woon-jae diving to his left.

Victory for Hiddink’s side over Germany would take them through to the Yokohama final on June 30. Brazil will play Turkey in the other semifinal. To get there they will almost certainly have to play better than they did on yesterday, although Hiddink was in no rush to get to work on his preparation. (R)

Spanish cry foul in

World Cup defeat

In Madrid, Spaniards blamed bad luck, the linesmen and the referee yesterday when their World Cup hopes were shattered by South Korea in a penalty shootout.

“It is always the same story. We never manage to get beyond the quarterfinals,” said Jesus Aguado in Madrid, its streets almost deserted during the match.

Marco Ortega, red-faced after two hours shouting at the television, cursed both the linesmen and Egyptian referee.

“I feel terrible. Spain dominated the game but they disallowed two goals,” said the sales manager.

Eduardo, a 22-year-old finance student, railed against a linesman who ruled the ball out just before Spain’s Fernando Morientes shot it into the goal.

“Hit the linesman with the corner flag,” the student shouted at the end of the match.

“It’s the referee’s fault,” he added. “He was biased in favor of the Koreans.”

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who was unable to see the entire match because of his involvement in a European summit in Seville, was visibly disappointed.

“I want to express my gratitude to the team and the coach who have done an excellent job,” he said.

“Today we didn’t have any luck and there were also a few other things that had an influence, but we can leave that for another news conference.”

Before the match, optimism had been running high with the opinion on the streets that the more experienced Spaniards would find it tough going, but would eventually prevail. Spaniards broke their usual late-night weekend routine and set their alarms to watch the 0830 a.m. kick-off and cheer their side as it tried to make the semifinals for the first time in 52 years.

A disallowed goal early in the second half and the decisive penalty miss by young Real Betis winger Joaquin sparked reactions of disbelief from both the radio and television.

“Spain were superior to Korea, but sometimes there seems to be no justice in football,” said a commentator on national radio station Onda Cero.

The European Union summit in Seville ground to halt as national leaders and the assembled journalists ditched politics for football.

In the holiday resort of Marbella, scene of a car bombing by the Basque separatist organization ETA on Friday, the seafront was empty as tourists and locals packed cafes to follow the game.

Postmen abandoned mail rounds, tourist booths remained closed and the only sound came from the television sets.

“It was daylight robbery,” said fan Ricardo Dunia in Marbella. “The referee was terrible and we had no luck at all.”