South Korea v Greece
Group B, 11:30 GMT, June 12, 2010

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

In what looks a relatively open group, both South Korea and Greece will feel they have to take three points from their first match if they are to progress.


"If we win, we are in a position to try to qualify for the next round," Greece midfielder Christos Patsatzoglou said. "It's very important not to lose, everybody knows that."

South Korea will feel confident of a victory and look the more likely to go through. Their final warm-up game brought a creditable 1-0 defeat to Spain, and they beat Ivory Coast 2-0 in March on neutral territory. For Greece, their best result in the warm-up games was a 2-2 draw with North Korea.

However, South Korea have a couple of injury doubts, to Park Ji-Sung and Park Chu-Young, which could affect their hopes. Both players are expected to be available but, given the former's importance to the team, Huh Jung-Moo will have cause for concern.

South Korea player in focus: Park Ji-Sung. Having proved a vital player for Guus Hiddink for both South Korea and PSV Eindhoven, Park is now a hugely important part of the Manchester United squad. His work-rate is an obvious asset, but he is also capable of scoring goals. An injury scare has threatened to rule him out of the opener, but he is expected to return in time.

Greece player in focus: Sotirios Kyrgiakos. Otto Rehhagel relies completely on his defence remaining resolute so they can nick narrow victories from set-pieces and centre back Kyrgiakos, who joined Liverpool from AEK Athens last summer, is absolutely central to that aim.

Key battle: Lee Chung-Yong v Kostas Katsouranis. In a heavily defensive team, Panathinaikos' Katsouranis is the defensive midfield general. He will need to work hard to contain 21-year-old Bolton starlet Lee, whose skilful and inventive play from the midfield makes him a huge asset for South Korea.

Trivia: Greece coach Otto Rehhagel, 71, will be the oldest coach at the World Cup.

Stats: Greece have never won a World Cup match, having qualified for just one previous tournament (USA '94). Greece striker Theofanis Gekas, though, was the top scorer in European qualification for this year's World Cup, scoring ten goals.

Odds: South Korea (2.87), the draw (3.10), Greece (2.62) with Bet365. A 1-0 win for South Korea looks good value at 7.00.

Prediction: South Korea have been impressive in many of their warm-up games and, while Greece are always hard to beat, the 2002 semi-finalists should have enough to take the win.