By Jason Hughes, PA International, Yokohama

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Hong Myung-bo may be one of the most capped footballers in the world, but even he hasn't witnessed anything like South Korea's remarkable adventure in this World Cup.

The 33-year-old defender, 'the Korean Beckenbauer', has played over 130 times for his country.

But the scenes which greeted his winning spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out against Spain would have been unimaginable when he made his debut against Norway in February 1990.

He made an immediate impact with the national team and by the time the World Cup came around four months later, he was a regular at the heart of the Korean defence.

Appearing in the first of his four finals, Hong played in his side's defeats to Belgium, Spain and Uruguay as they finished bottom of the group.

At USA 94, Hong scored in the opening game as Korea fought back from two goals down to grab a point against a Spanish side including Fernando Hierro, Miguel Angel Nadal and Luis Enrique - who all played in Saturday's shock result.

Hong was also on target in their final group game against Germany as they lost 3-2.

He will be reunited in tomorrow's semi-final with Germany coach Rudi Voller, who along with captain Oliver Kahn was on the bench that day.

Hong also played in all three games at France 98, including a 5-0 hammering by Guus Hiddink's Holland.

But it is during this tournament that the Pohang Steelers veteran has shone, marshalling a well-organised Korean backline against some of the world's best strikers.

And Hong, remarkably, is one of four players still in with a chance of lifting the World Cup on Sunday.