The South Korean football team has failed in its bid to move to the last four in the Olympic soccer tournament by losing 3-2 to Paraguay.

In a quarterfinal match held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki early Sunday morning, South Korea fought back with a three goal deficit in the second half, but only scored two goals in their late charge.

Fredy Bareiro opened up the scoring for Paraguay in the 19th minute, beating Korean keeper Kim Young-Kwang for a 1-0 lead. The Paraguayan contingent added one more goal in the 61st minute when Jose Cardozo doubled the lead for the South Americans. It was only ten minutes later that Bareiro added a second goal to make it 3-0 for Paraguay.

However, three minutes after the Bareiro goal, Chun-Soo Lee pulled a goal back for the South Koreans, slotting past Diego Barreto in the 74th minute. Lee then added a second goal five minutes later to pull South Korea within a single goal.

However, Paraguay managed to withstand the charge and advanced to the semi-finals to face Iraq, who continued its magical run with a 1-0 win over Australia earlier in the day.