The South Koreans, who played for the majority of the game with 10 men following Kang Min-soo's 56th minute dismissal, prevailed in the penalty shootout thanks to a save from their skipper and custodian Lee Woon-jae who denied Japan'sNaotake Hanyu.

The victory means they have also secured a place in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup and Verbeek, who announced his resignation after the game, admitted it was great achievement for his team.

"I'm really proud of my players," said Verbeek. "It was very important to win the third place and not play the qualifications for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

"Qualifying for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup will give the team a chance to play without any pressure in several international friendly matches," he added.

"Our team had five tough weeks in such a big tournament which included a lot of travelling," he continued.

"I'm really proud of the players who played for the third consecutive match for 120 minutes."

The Dutch coach felt that the turning point in the game was when defender Kang Min-soo just two minutes before Verbeek was also sent off following his objections against the referee's decision.

He added: "Japan started very well and had the upper hand in the first quarter of the game. We were struggling a little bit in the early stage of the game before we controlled the midfield.

"Our passes was not so accurate especially because the players were tired following a tough week. In the second half our performance was going better and better until the red card which changed the match completely.

"Overall I'm very proud of the team because most of them played in the Asian Games and they are 26 years and younger. It is a great thing for the future of Korean football."

Japan coach Ivica Osim lamented the fact that luck was not on his side as they were unable to find the back of the net despite the advantage of an extra man for much of the clash.

"It is a matter of luck and we didn't have luck against South Korea tonight," said Osim. "The main cause for the defeat was that Japan couldn't score and I do not consider the result as a defeat because the regular and two extra times finished with a 0-0 draw.

"Only the penalty shoot-outs gave South Korea the win," he added. "The difference between the two teams today was luck and the hard and focused play.

"I think that we took the risk of fielding the tired players in the game," he said. "We played six matches in the space of only 20 days and the schedule was tough on us and that's why we couldn't work very well.

"The players worked very hard and to be honest we didn't face any opponents who are better than us in the tournament. You can see that throughout our games in the tournament we were always leading the play."