Son Heung-min of South Korea (center) kicks the ball during a friendly match at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England, on Saturday. (Yonhap)
Son Heung-min of South Korea (center) kicks the ball during a friendly match at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England, on Saturday. (Yonhap)

Unlucky on offense and sloppy on defense, South Korea lost to Ivory Coast 4-0 in England on Saturday in their first match of the World Cup year.

Evann Guessand, Simon Adingra, Martial Godo and Wilfried Singo had a goal apiece for the 35th-ranked African side at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, northwest of London, while Oh Hyeon-gyu, Seol Young-woo and Lee Kang-in each found the woodwork for the losing side.

Coached by Hong Myung-bo, South Korea, world No. 22, will next play 25th-ranked Austria in Vienna on Tuesday.

South Korea's starting XI was without longtime stalwart Son Heung-min, who had been under the weather this week. Son was subbed on in the 58th minute, along with Lee, the team's top playmaker who had been dealing with the effects of a recent ankle injury, but they failed to make a difference.

In the absence of Son and Lee, Besiktas forward Oh Hyeon-gyu and Stoke City winger Bae Jun-ho were tasked with leading the attack at the start, with Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee-chan starting opposite Bae on the left wing.

In Hong's back-three formation, Seol and Kim Moon-hwan started as the wingbacks, flanking the center trio of Kim Tae-hyeon, Cho Yu-min and Kim Min-jae.

Park Jin-seob and Kim Jin-gyu started as midfielders, with Jo Hyeon-woo tending the goal.

South Korea tried to poke holes on the opposing defense with some quick passes and off-ball movements in the early going. Hwang launched a dangerous shot from the left side of the box that sailed just over the target in the 12th minute.

Some eight minutes later, Oh snuck behind the defense to take a through ball from Seol, but his left-footed shot from the left side struck the right post.

Ivory Coast snatched the momentum and spent the majority of the latter portion of the first half in the attacking zone.

Their dominance in possession led to the opening goal in the 35th minute. Godo received a pass on the left wing and fended off Cho on his way into the box, before passing the ball off to Guessand, who made no mistake with his right-footed shot.

Jo came up with a couple of big saves to keep it a one-goal match, first turning aside a Jean Michael Seri shot from outside the box in the 38th minute and denying Emmanuel Agbadou on a header from point-blank range in the next minute.

Seol came within inches of leveling the score in the 42nd minute, as his curling shot from the left side of the box hit the right post.

Then a minute into added time, Adingra doubled Ivory Coast's lead. He took a pass from Parfait Guiagon with his back turned to the goal and then quickly spun around to create some space. His ensuing shot went past multiple bodies and into the right corner.

Oh tried to cut the deficit in the dying seconds with a low shot following a counterattack chance, but goalkeeper Yahia Fofana was up to the task.

Son, Lee and Cho Gue-sung came on in the 58th minute to replace the starting attack trio of Bae, Hwang and Oh, but they failed to provide any immediate spark.

Ivory Coast then extended their lead to 3-0 in the 62nd minute. Following a corner, Yang Hyun-jun's clearing attempt bounced right to Guessand, whose initial shot was saved by Jo. Godo then fought off defenders to pounce on the rebound and put it past the down-and-out goalkeeper.

South Korea struck the right post for the third time in the 76th minute, with Lee's left-footed shot from outside the box bouncing off the woodwork.

Ivory Coast seemed content to finish the match up three goals, but substitute Singo rounded out the scoring by finishing off a counterattack chance moments before the final whistle.

Ivory Coast outshot South Korea 8-2, though shot attempt numbers were closer, with Ivory Coast owning a 13-12 edge. (Yonhap)