Preview: South Korea Vs Greece

South Korea Vs Greece:

First match in group B is between two underdogs with different styles of play. Greece is betting on experience and organisational play while South Korea is placing more emphasis on speed. Loser of this match may exit from group stage as other opponents in group B (Argentina and Nigeria) are difficult to beat. Despite good FIFA ranking, Greece does not have much edge over South Korea.

This is the seventh successive world cup appearance for South Koreans – only 6-7 countries achieved this rare feat.

This is a game where two teams with exactly opposite styles of play will fight against each other.

Match timing: June 12 at 5:00 PM IST

Venue: Nelson Mandela stadium, Port Elizabeth.

Live on ESPN from 4:50 PM on June 12 (India)

Key players:

South Korea: Park Ji-sung, Park Chu-young and Lee Chung-yong. They must attack Greece and expose its weak defence to win this game.

Greece: Theofanis Gekas, Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Giorgos Karagounis. Gekas is a terrific striker and is in good form. He is among top scorers in European world cup qualifying rounds. 1000 point improvement in rankings in last 12 months is indicating his superb form.

Squad analysis:

South Korea: Greece may attack South Korea with power. South Korea has best chance among Asian teams to reach last 16. They reached semi-finals in 2002 but exited from group stage in 2006. South Korea fought hard against Spain in their last warm-up game and impressed me despite defeat. They are unbeaten in Asian qualifying round and impressed everyone in warm-up games except against Belarus.

Greece: It struggled to beat weak North Korea in warm-up game (2-2) and lost to Paraguay and Senegal. Its aged players may struggle against fast South Koreans. Its towering defenders may trouble South Korean forwards. Greece is low on confidence while South Koreans are in upbeat mood after superb performances in some warm-up games.

Strength of Greece Vs Speed of Korea – which will dominate?

Final analysis: South Korea has marginal edge over Greece. Greece defence is looking vulnerable against technically efficient and fast paced South Korean squad. Who ever lose may exit from group stage – that is the significance of this match.

World Cup game Prediction: South Korea 2 – Greece 1