MIYAGI -- Cohost Japan's 2002 World Cup run ended Tuesday with a disappointing 1-0 loss to a stubborn Turkish side in a Round of 16 game at Miyagi Stadium, but South Korea pulled off a stunning 2-1 upset over Italy in Taejon to advance to the quarterfinals where it faces Spain.

The Koreans tied the score at 1-1 with just minutes left and then scored a golden goal in extra time. Ahn Jung Hwan, who had earlier missed a penalty, got the winner that sent three-time champion Italy home and the South Korean crowd delirious with delight.

Japan, playing in the rain before a partisan crowd of 45,666, never found its rhythm and a lack of decisiveness around its opponent's penalty area meant it failed to capitalize on long periods of possession.

But it was slack marking in its own box that ultimately proved Japan's undoing with Turkish midfielder Umit Davala rising unmarked to head the ball into the net in the 12th minute past helpless Japan 'keeper Seigo Narazaki.

Japan coach Philippe Troussier has to shoulder much of the responsibility for the defeat after making some bizarre changes in personnel.

Troussier took a team that had looked solid, composed and, most importantly, had been winning together and inexplicably changed its entire forward line -- into one that had to date been untried -- disrupting the rhythm of the side and ultimately the chance to contest a quarterfinal against Senegal.

Out went Takayuki Suzuki, scorer of the equalizer against Belgium. There was no place for regular starting striker Atsushi Yanagisawa either. Instead, Troussier amazingly opted for birthday-boy Akinori Nishizawa, who had not spent a minute on the field during the World Cup so far.

Bolton-reject Nishizawa was handed the responsibility of leading the front line with Alessandro Santos (until today used very effectively as a second-half substitute for Shinji Ono) starting in an attacking midfield role.

The result was disastrous.

Japan, for all it tried, looked disjointed and confused, particularly in the final third of the pitch and Turkey coach Senol Gunes may have been thinking that it was his birthday after Troussier's calamitous decisions.

Troussier attempted to justify his moves after the game by saying, "I felt that we needed something new to take us forward."

Gunes, on the other hand, felt that his team "controlled the pace of the game from the kickoff against a very strong Japanese side. We scored early and we tried to pass the ball -- I think we did a very good job."

Japan went behind in the 12th minute after Koji Nakata gave the ball away, appeared to have won it back, but then conceded a corner.

Ergun Penbe swung it in from the right and Davala, unmarked in the box, gratefully nodded the ball past stranded 'keeper Narazaki, who had been left in two minds as to whether to come out for the cross or not.

Questions could be asked as to where exactly captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto had positioned himself and why he failed to pick up Davala.

Despite the setback, Japan managed to lift its game in the latter stages of the first half, coming agonizingly close to leveling matters when Santos curled a free-kick over the wall that connected with the upright and the crossbar.

With a minute to go before halftime an Ono free-kick drifted dangerously into the box and Turkish and Aston Villa defender Alpay Ozalan was forced into heading narrowly over his own bar.

Japan was dominating the midfield and controlling possession, but was unable to capitalize on its territorial supremacy. The situation was crying out for the introduction of a player like Hiroaki Morishima, scorer of Japan's first goal against Tunisia and a player in a rich vein of form.

Instead of rectifying his clearly failing strategy, Troussier chose halftime to make the situation worse.

Instead of taking off Nishizawa, who, although not having a bad game, was never going to be the answer to Japan's problems, Troussier opted to take off two of Japan's likeliest goal-scorers -- Santos and Japan's leading World Cup scorer, Junichi Inamoto.

On came the ineffective Suzuki and the unimaginative Daisuke Ichikawa to try to turn the game around for Japan. Ichikawa did not even manage to last the half as Troussier chose the final five minutes to bring on Morishima when it was all too late.

Japan pushed forward in the second half but a combination of the poor conditions and a lack of ideas up front restricted it to a few half-chances. In midfield, the usually reliable Kazuyuki Toda had an awful game, constantly giving the ball away and mistiming his challenges.

It was also a match that Koji Nakata would like to forget as he looked extremely shaky on the ball and never managed to stamp his authority on the game.

The real villain, however, was Troussier, and in his last game after four years in charge of the national side will need to take a long look at himself when he reflects on the role he played in today's match.

On this performance, Turkey's quarterfinal opponent, Senegal, will have little to fear as the Turks were outplayed in midfield and did not impose much of a threat up front.

They effectively did just enough to edge the game with a workmanlike display.

This fact was not lost on Japanese playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata, who said that Japan had come very close to reaching the quarterfinals but had nevertheless achieved a lot.

"We have entered the second round and that is a great achievement," he said. "Today we played very hard and could have gone through to the quarterfinals and it is really unfortunate that we didn't. I hope the world will see Japan in a different light now, because we were very close to reaching the quarterfinals."

"It is the end of an adventure," added Troussier. "But we finished with a Japanese team which has a lot of spirit for the future. I hope they use that spirit as a launching pad as the team works towards the 2006 World Cup."