JEDDAH, 26 June — South Korean expats across Saudi Arabia were sad that their dream of becoming the first Asian nation to reach and win the FIFA World Cup final ended yesterday when they lost to Germany 1-0 in the semifinals.

"All Koreans were united behind our team as the dream was being realized with victories over Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain in the earlier part of the tournament. Our team was beaten but not disgraced. The two teams looked evenly matched, although the Germans had more opportunities to score than the Koreans," S.W. Jung, a Korean business consultant, said.

Daljae Kim, senior manager at Samsung Electronics in Jeddah, said: "It’s sad we lost the semifinals. But the saving grace is our performance matched the class of Germans. However, I must say both Korean and German teams lacked the grit and determination and did not impress. Of course, this experience has been good for us. We could learn a lot from world-class teams like Germany."

German expats were a happy lot in Jeddah like elsewhere in the Kingdom. Dr. Michael Bitzer, general manager of MedNet Gulf E.C., based in Jeddah, said: "Our earlier match against the USA was disappointing. Today, the Germans played well, so well that they could have won 2-0. We’re hopeful of our team lifting the cup in the finals in Yokohama on Sunday. Whoever wins the semifinals between Brazil and Turkey, we’re winning the finals."

In the Eastern Province Korean expats, though disappointed, saluted their brave team and called them a proud loser.

The defeat of South Korea against Germany yesterday disappointed Asians, Arabs and Africans. They had been siding with South Korea as one of their teams from the region. Germans, very few in numbers in the Eastern Province, were ecstatic over the victory. They paid tributes to South Korea for putting up a brave fight.

Dietrich Busch, a Bonn resident working as factory manager in Dammam Industrial Area II, said: "It was a hard-earned win." He said it was sheer determination that enabled the German team to sail through the qualifying rounds up to the finals."

The Koreans on the other hand, though disappointed, took the defeat in their stride and said that their team staged a valiant fight and showed the world that they played the entire tournament like a true champion. "It was not a cakewalk for the Germans and the match could have gone either way until the 75th minute goal from Michael Ballack," said Weng Cha, a South Korean construction engineer.

Kim Yong, another engineer in an oilfield supplies company in Dammam, said that the match was evenly poised and it was difficult to say who would finally outmaneuver the other.

Miteb Al-Badeen, a Saudi journalist, paid tributes to the South Korean team. "Throughout the tournament they showed the determination to win. Today was just not their day."

Moqbil Al-Sayyari, Gulf editor of Arriyadiyah, said that it was one of the finest matches of the tournament. "Surely after the Brazil-England encounter, this was the best match," Al-Sayyari said.

In Riyadh, Saleh Al-Hammadi, editor-in-chief of Arriyadiyah, said he was disappointed to see South Korea miss the final. "With the South Korean exit, the Asian football dream of making it to the final has also collapsed. But we wish Germany all the best because they really played well, both as individual players and as a team."

— Javid Hassan in Riyadh, Saeed Haider in Dammam & K.S. Ramkumar in Jeddah