South Korean soccer fans flooded the streets of Seoul with tears early on Saturday after their team were eliminated from the World Cup.

Hundreds of thousands of red-clad fans had poured into the streets of the capital and other venues across the country to watch the 2002 semi-finalists play their final group match against Switzerland in Hanover, Germany.

Fans cry in Seoul after South Korean national soccer team's World Cup match against Switzerland in Germany.[Reuters]

While expectations were high that the Koreans could repeat their 2002 fairytale ride to the last four, a 2-0 loss to the Swiss, coupled with France's 2-0 win over Togo, saw them exit the competition at the first hurdle.

Distraught fans tried to console one another through the tears.

"It's all over. We played so well. I'm crushed," said Woo Song-min, who watched the game in Seoul with his girlfriend.

Fans had started to gather at venues across the peninsula some 11 hours ahead of the 4 a.m. (1900 GMT) kick-off.

Concerts kept the masses entertained through the night and by the time the game started, the crowds had been whipped up into a frenzy.

The mood darkened early in the first half, however, when defender Philippe Senderos powered a header past Lee Woon-jae to put Switzerland 1-0 ahead.

A controversial second goal from forward Alex Frei sparked screams of "offside" as the Seoul crowd vented their frustration at the massive screens set up to broadcast the match.

"We could have come back but the second goal broke our backs. It was not fair," said Kim Sun-wha.

There was no dancing or fireworks at the end of the match that had greeted South Korea's win over Togo and draw with France. Instead, riot police cleared the fans from the streets early to let garbage men clean up the mess.

The only people keen to hang around were vendors hoping a 50 percent mark down on World Cup T-shirts would bring in a few late sales.