Russia are mentioned 38 places above South Korea in the latest FIFA world rankings. However, that doesn’t tell the full story. Russia are an extraordinarily average team. They’re managed by Fabio Capella but he was restricted to only picking home-based players for the trip to Brazil. The domestic league in Russia is full of expensive overseas players which restrict the number of home-grown players getting opportunities. Admittedly, Group H is wide open and if Capella has his men well-organised, they could get through to the next round. But without any players of genuine class, an ageing defence, no prolific goalscorer, a tame midfield and a terrible record at major tournaments, Russia are up against it from the off.
South Korea are going to be well-drilled, well organised, disciplined and full of confidence having finished third at the 2012 Olympics and fourth at the 2002 World Cup. The squad is a very good blend of youth and experience containing players from very diverse leagues around the world. Their forwards contain blistering pace which will trouble the ageing Russian centre backs.
Latest odds on South Korea to beat Russia are 3/1
LATEST MATCH ODDS – Russia 
v South Korea World CUp 2014
Russia 6/5
Draw 5/2 with BET365
South Korea 3/1
FIRST GOALSCORER
Aleksandr Kerzhakov 11/2
Aleksandr Kokorin 6/1 with William Hill
Chu-Young Park 8/1 with William Hill
Lee Keun-Ho 9/1 with BET365
CORRECT SCORE
Draw 1-1 13/2
Russia 1-0 7/1
Draw 0-0 8/1
Russia 2-1 9/1
Russia 2-0 10/1
South Korea 1-0 10/1
South Korea 2-1 14/1
South Korea 2-0 20/1
BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
No 10/11
Yes 11/10
TOTAL GOALS
Under 2.5 4/6
Over 2.5 6/4
VERDICT: Basically, the bookmakers are predicting a low-scoring win for Russia. They have this game completely wrong. this is the most ordinary squad Russia have sent to a major finals for quite some time and South Korea will exploit that and take the points on Tuesday night. A 2-0 win for the Asian side is not impossible.
