Russia v. South Korea
Tuesday, June 17th | 11PM BST/6PM EST
Television Listings | Full Schedule
Group H is expected to be another close one, with Belgium and Russia challenging one another for the top spot. Belgium were more than a little underwhelming in their narrow 2-1 win over Algeria earlier in the day, and Russia will hope to assert themselves as favorites with a strong performance against South Korea. Former England boss Fabio Capello will be without captain Roman Shirokov, who injured his knee recently, but Russia's been consistently impressive under Capello and should expect to get all three points in their opener.
That expectation also comes from the fact that South Korea have lost five of their last seven international matches, including a 2-1 loss against Russia back in November. Meaningless, sure, but they lost 4-0 and 2-0 against Mexico and the US, respectively, back in February, and their World Cup warm-up included losses against Tunisia and Ghana. Son Heung-Min is expected to be at the heart of anything good the South Koreans can muster, and they'll need a strong performance from him today if they're going to have a chance at qualifying for the knockout rounds.
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