Veteran soccer striker Ahn Jung-hwan keeps coming up big for South Korea in the World Cup.

One of South Korea's heroes from the 2002 tournament, Ahn on Tuesday scored in the 72th minute as South Korea rallied to beat Togo, 2-1, in the World Cup opener for both teams.

Playing before numerous fans of South Korea in Frankfurt, he broke a 1-1 tie with a blast just outside of the penalty area that went into the top left corner of the net.

South Korea also got a big break in the 54th minute. Togo was left with ten men after Jean-Paul Abalo Yaovi got a second yellow card for fouling Park Ji-sung near the penalty area.

Striker Lee Chun-soo then tied the score on the ensuing free kick for his first World Cup goal.

The victory was South Korea's first in the World Cup away from home soil. More importantly, the team picked up three valuable points in Group G.

Togo, reeling over its shaky coaching situation, had opened the scoring in the 31st minute. Mohammed Kader took a cross past two South Korean defenders on the right side and blasted the ball into the net.

Togo coach Otto Pfister also ended speculation over whether he would show up by entering his name on his team sheet. He had walked out over problems caused by Togo's failure to agree on player bonuses.

South Korea's next game is against France Sunday.