South Korea set up a second round clash with Uruguay at the World Cup by holding Nigeria to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday in their final group game.

Defender Lee Jung-soo and Park Chu-young scored for South Korea after Kalu Uche had given Nigeria the lead in the 12th minute. Ayegbeni Yakubu netted a 69th minute penalty to draw Nigeria level again, but the Africans squandered a couple of good opportunities to score a winner.

"During the game, we conceded the first goal and that was a tough situation," South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo said. "But the players stayed cool and levelled the score."

Argentina won Group B by beating Greece 2-0 in the other match, meaning Nigeria would have advanced with a win despite losing their first two games. Argentina won all three games to finish with nine points, while South Korea had four points, Greece three and Nigeria one.

Nigeria returns home winless and has not won a World Cup match since beating Bulgaria 1-0 in France in 1998.

Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback was left ruing his team's inability to finish.

"I was disappointed about all the chances," Lagerback said. "The players have done really well. They worked hard over time."

Captain Nwankwo Kanu said Nigeria had itself to blame for failing to progress, with its poor finishing.

"We created chances but didn't make use of them," he said.

The only other time the Koreans got beyond the group stage was when the team surged to the semifinals in 2002 on home soil as tournament co-host with Japan.

That stunning run, ended by a 1-0 loss to Germany, turned South Korea's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink into a national hero.

"Our goal was to reach the last 16. We succeeded in doing this for the first time away from home," South Korea captain Park Ji-sung said. "So I'm very happy we accomplished this in South Africa. All of the players know how important this is."

The Korean substitutes sprinted onto the field and hugged their teammates at the final whistle and danced in front of a small group of flag-waving fans.

Yakubu missed a great chance to equalise at 2-2 in the 66th when he had an open goal but tapped the ball wide. But he made amends three minutes later and showed more composure in front of goal by slotting in a penalty after Kim Nam-il had fouled Chinedu Obasi.

Yakubu told Kanu he was stunned he missed the simple first chance.

"He said he was confident it was a goal," Kanu said. "He did not believe he could miss from that kind of position."

South Korea now plays Uruguay in the round of 16, while Argentina faces Mexico. Nigeria returns home winless and has not won a World Cup match since beating Bulgaria 1-0 in France in 1998.

Nigeria played well in losing 1-0 to Argentina and were a goal up against Greece before Sani Kaita's red card turned the tide and led to a 2-1 defeat.

South Korea beat Greece 2-0 and lost 4-1 to Argentina in its earlier matches. Its progress into the round of 16 came a night after North Korea was eliminated following a 7-0 thrashing by Portugal.

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