91Èȱ¬

Great Britain coach Stuart Pearce believes his squad will emerge as better players for their Olympic experience.

GB were knocked out after losing to South Korea on penalties.

"The experience has been fantastic," said Pearce. "All the individuals who contributed go back to their clubs and countries better for it."

South Korea have progressed to the semi-finals, where they will meet Brazil at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Daniel Sturridge was the only player to miss in the shoot-out when substitute keeper Lee Bumyoung dived to his left to save the Chelsea striker's spot kick.

Ki Sung-yueng then converted to end GB's hopes of winning a medal.

Pearce said: "Experiences like Daniel's will make him stronger and he will benefit from this tournament.

"Dan got the winner against Uruguay on Wednesday to get us out of the group stage, against South Korea he was on the end of missing a penalty," added Pearce, who missed a spot kick for England in a shoot-out against West Germany in their 1990 World Cup semi-final tie.

"But if my experiences of tournament football are anything to go by, then things like this make you stronger.

"You have got to give credit to both sets of players, there were some outstanding penalties taken this evening.

" When you consider that nine out of 10 were scored, it was not a case of missing targets and bad penalties."

GB fell behind for the first time in the Games when Sunderland forward Ji Dong-won struck but Aaron Ramsey levelled from the penalty spot.

The Wales skipper then missed the chance to put GB in the lead when he failed to find the net with another spot kick on a frustrating night for the home team at the Millennium Stadium.

Despite GB's agonising elimination, Pearce said that the campaign had been extremely positive.

"I'm very proud of my players and what we have achieved in the four-week period we have been together," added the GB coach.

"It has been an honour for me to be part of the Olympic movement. If we brought more people to football under the umbrella of the Olympics then it has been a successful venture."

However, he said he thought it was unlikely that there would be a GB men's football team at the 2016 Games in Brazil.

The unified GB football team at these current Games has been a controversial issue, with the Football Associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland opposed to the idea.

GB qualified automatically as hosts at 2012, with 13 English players and five from Wales in the final squad of 18.

"The format of Team GB in the Olympics would be fantastic, but I do not think it will happen again," said Pearce.

"91Èȱ¬ advantage has allowed us to have this opportunity, but when you look at international programmes and bringing nationalities together, where are we going to find the time to enter a qualification period?"