MALAGA, Spain — Latvia lost 1-0 to South Korea in a football friendly on Friday played in Malaga, Spain.

It was the final game in a tour of South Africa and Spain for South Korea as they begin to build towards the World Cup in South Africa later this year. They had chosen to play Latvia, due to the similarities between the Latvian game and that of their pool opponents at the World Cup, Greece.

The game’s only goal came 10 minutes into the second half when Kim Jae-sung was able to break the deadlock. The Latvians, ranked slightly ahead of the South Koreans in world rankings (45 compared to 52) feigned some disappointment at the loss but considering it has been nearly two months since a number of the Latvians last saw action, trainer Aleksandrs Starkovs can not be too disheartened.