The Korea Republic, who’s major success was during their joint hosting of the 2002 World Cup Finals with Japan in their achievement of reaching the semi-finals, face a tougher proposition when they travel to Germany this summer.

Korea Republic, who will be making their sixth successive finals appearance, are the most frequent attendees to the FIFA World Cup finals from the Asia Zone, and first appeared at the global showpiece tournament in 1954. However, prior to their hosting of the event in 2002, they had not managed to win a single game in their 14 finals matches.

That all changed whilst under the coaching of Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who led the South Korean’s to the semi-finals of the World Cup 2002 with victories over four European teams – Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain, in a run that was ended only by a 1-0 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals. Since then, the fans from South Korea have become highly expectant.

But the South Koreans suffered an early embarrassment on the road to qualification for Germany 2006 when they were held to a 0-0 draw against the Maldives in the second match of the preliminary group stages. That resulted in Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho losing his job, and which led to the appointment of another Dutchman, Jo Bonfrere.

Bonfrere successfully led the team through to Asian last eight, and a place in the group play-offs without any further embarrassments.

But in the final qualifying rounds in 2005, the South Korean’s suffered a couple of set-backs. After opening the final qualifying stages with a home win over Kuwait in February of 2005, Jo Bonfrere’s side were well beaten 2-0 by Saudi Arabia in their second match on 25 March.

Although they then defeated Uzbekistan 2-1 in the home tie in Seoul, it took an injury-time equalizer from South Korean debutant Park Chu-Young to salvage a point in the return match in the Uzbek Capital of Tashkent.

The South Korean’s secured their place at the World Cup Finals in Germany with 4-0 thrashing of Kuwait just five days later, but, after a 1-0 home loss to Saudi Arabia in their final qualifier in August, Bonfrere resigned amid heavy criticism of the team’s lacklustre performances.

This led to the appointment of Coach Dick Advocaat – the third Dutchman to take up the position of South Korean coach – for the World Cup Finals.

Although there have been changes to the South Korean side since, the heroes of 2002 all retain key roles. Park Ji-Sung, now playing regularly at Manchester United, provides a genuine attacking threat from midfield, while left-back Lee Young-Pyo is a key figure in a defence that operates in front of experienced goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae.

Coach Dick Advocaat’s options in the striker department are plentiful, such as Ahn Jung-Hwan, whose golden goal defeated Italy in the last World Cup, Cha Du-Ri, youngster Park Chu-Young, who showed his skill and predatory instincts by scoring twice in his three Asia Zone qualifying appearances, along with Lee Dong-Gook, who was the top scorer in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup.

Korea Republic have been drawn in Group G alongside France, Switzerland and World Cup debutants, Togo.

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Korea Republic Match Fixtures in the World Cup 2006

13-June-2006	Korea Republic v Togo	15:00 BST
18-June-2006	France v Korea Republic	21:00 BST
23-June-2006	Switzerland v Korea Republic	21:00 BST

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Historic Facts

First International appearance: Korea Republic 5 - 3 Mexico (London, England; 2 August, 1948)

Largest win: Korea Republic 16 - 0 Nepal (Kyiv, Ukraine; 19 August 1998)

Worst defeat: Sweden 12 - 0 Korea Republic (London, England; 5 August 1948)

World Cup Finals Appearances: 6

Debut Appearance: 1954

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Korea Republic Match Results - Asia World Cup Qualifiers, Group A

Date	Match	Result
17-Aug-2005	Korea Republic - Saudi Arabia	0:1 (0:1)
08-Jun-2005	Kuwait - Korea Republic	0:4 (0:2)
03-Jun-2005	Uzbekistan - Korea Republic	1:1 (0:0)
30-Mar-2005	Korea Republic - Uzbekistan	2:1 (0:0)
25-Mar-2005	Saudi Arabia - Korea Republic	2:0 (1:0)
09-Feb-2005	Korea Republic - Kuwait	2:0 (1:0)

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