Lions stunned in Jeju

England were just a minute away from getting their World Cup campaign off to a dream start.

Leading through Victor Moses' opportunist strike on 62 minutes, England looked home and hosed until Rim Choi Min's cruelly timed equaliser.

England's excellent goalkeeper Alex Smithies made a superb save to claw away An Il Bom's header, but Rim was on hand to smash home the rebound.

England's first appearance in the U17 Finals took place on a blistering hot and humid afternoon in Jeju.

With little wind to cool the players, the sweltering young Lions would have been hoping to draw on their ten day period of acclimatisation.

After the early jousting, the first real opening came in the fifth minute when Victor Moses spotted Jonathan Franks' late run, but the Middlesbrough man was just offside.

Moses, sporting a pair of bright red boots - the same as the Korean kit, was again in the action, this time at the other end, when he bravely blocked Han Kyong Gwang's thumping free-kick.

England had an excellent chance to take the lead on eight minutes from their first corner, won by the industrious Franks. Nathan Porritt's accurate delivery found Tom Smith but the Ipswich defender could only glance his header wide.

Korea DPR were just inches away from opening the scoring themselves a minute later when Ri Myong Jun drilled a 30-yarder past the despairing Smithies only to see the ball cannon back off the crossbar.

Smithies had to be alert on 13 minutes when O Jin Hyok arrowed a shot into the top corner but the Huddersfield keeper reacted well to push the ball behind with two hands.

From the resulting corner, Myong Cha Hyon turned in a crowded box and fired over.

England Head Coach John Peacock, watching from the main stand, could have been forgiven for a nervous glance down at proceedings.

However, in Franks England had a livewire happy to take players on. Exposed in the sun on the right flank, Franks showed wonderful skill to deftly nudge Moses' pass inside his marker before powering towards goal and firing a low shot which the scrambling O Mun Song gathered.

Korean captain Bom then sent another ambitious drive from distance over the bar as his side continued their policy of shooting anywhere within 30 yards of goal.

An injury to Michael Woods gave Kenny Swain some time to do a bit of repair work to the pitch. Within minutes of the restart, Rhys Murphy, who impressively held the ball up as the lone striker, headed another Porritt set-piece over.

After Smithies had made another smart save, this time from Ri Myong Jun, England had two identical chances towards the end of the first half.

The first fell to Murphy who, after being played in by Moses, dragged a left foot shot wide from an acute angle. Moses then found himself in an identical position on the stroke of half-time but he thrashed his shot into the side-netting.

When battle resumed it was the Koreans who almost broke the deadlock on 54 minutes. Pak Kwang Ryong showed wonderful awareness to find Jun but he pulled his shot past Smithies' right post.

Moses showed his opposite number how to do it on 62 minutes to put England ahead. The Middlesbrough pairing of Franks and Porritt linked well on the right to fashion the chance, Porritt eventually jinking between two markers and forcing Song into a fumble. The alert Moses lifted the rebound high into the net. Cue the trademark somersault celebration.