Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung is thrilled to lead his country into the World Cup round of 16.

Park earned the man-of-the-match award after his South Korea's 2-2 draw against Nigeria on Tuesday.

The result allowed South Korea to progress as the second-place team in Group B and book a meeting with Uruguay in the knock-out round on Saturday.

"Our goal was to reach the round of 16 and for the first time, we have done this away from home," said a proud Park.

"We are very pleased we have achieved this in South Africa."

It was all the more rewarding considering that the Koreans came from behind and had to defend deeply in order to secure a point against winless Nigeria.

"All the players know how difficult it is to reach this stage so it's just great that we managed to hold on to this draw and go through," said Park.

"I think we prepared well and we deserved to remain alive in the tournament."