Korea’s World Cup opener held on Wednesday morning

The importance of the first game is already well noted. Now is the time to show everything that they prepared for the past four years on the soccer field.

The Korean soccer squad led by Coach Hong Myung-bo will have its first game in the 2014 Brazil World Cup. The match between Korea and Russia of Group H will be held at Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, in the central-west region of Brazil, at 7 a.m. on Wednesday (Korea time).

Korea started off smoothly in the two World Cups where it made it into the round of 16. Korea defeated Poland in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and beat Greece in the 2010 South Africa World Cup. It is why the Korean team should win the match against the Russian team, which is known for tight defense as Korea aims for advancing into the round of 8 for the first time in the away game. While Korea stands at 57th in the FIFA world rankings, Russia is 19th.

Park Chu-young said, “I am determined to win against Russia.” Korean people will be passionately rooting for their team on sun-rising streets and plazas on Wednesday morning.