Ji expects South Korean invasion

The Korean members of the 77,000-strong crowd at Wembley Stadium on Thursday provided a noisy background to their team's 0-0 draw with Gabon – a result that ensured its passage to a last-eight meeting with Team GB at the Millennium Stadium.

Despite some pre-Games pessimism, the British football team, which moved into the quarter-finals after beating Uruguay, has enjoyed strong support so far during the Olympics.

But Sunderland striker Ji has warned that hordes of Korean fans will cross the Severn Bridge on the weekend to try to make the game feel like anything but a home match for the host nation.

He said: "There were a lot of Korean supporters at Wembley and when it comes to Cardiff I expect even more Koreans to travel to the match because it is a bigger match now we are in the quarter-finals."

Britain has improved as the Olympics have gone on and dropped just two points on its way to topping Group A.

Korea only won once during its group campaign and its performance on Thursday against Gabon, which was playing in its first Games, was very poor.

Ji and Arsenal's Park Chu-young were both guilty of missing easy chances and Gabon came closest to scoring when Levy Madinda hit a post in the second half.

Ji, who joined Sunderland last season, insists he and his team-mates will be ready to challenge Stuart Pearce's men in Wales on the weekend, however.

"Whichever team we play it doesn't matter because we have a good atmosphere in the team," the 21-year-old said.

"We are focused on the match and we will do a lot of video preparation and discussion with the coaches and the other team members so we are ready for the match.

"This is a big opportunity for me and everyone in the team and I am really happy that we are through to the quarter-final."