Russia and Korean share the spoils

The Korean's fortunes have nose dived since the heady days of 2002 when they turned the formbook on its head by becoming the first Asian side to make it through to the semi-finals.

But before reaching their eighth consecutive World Cup, they struggled in qualifying, squeaking home only on goal difference.

They also lost World Cup warm-ups against Tunisia, 1-0, and more worryingly a 4-0 drubbing by Ghana last week.

Coach Hong Myung-Bo is fretting over his Taeguk Warriors' fate in Brazil, aware that defensive frailties will make the going tough for them in a Group H also containing favourites Belgium and Algeria.

Hong, 45, gained iconic status in Seoul after his side-footed penalty took Guus Hiddink's side into the 2002 World Cup last four.

He insists that rather than regressing, the Korean team has made progress in the past 12 years.

"The fact is that the quality of football in South Korea has developed a lot since 2002," he declared.

The Koreans arrived in Cuiaba on Monday (AEST), 24 hours before Russia.

And before a training session at a local university, defender Lee Yong took time out to forecast what lay in store for him and his colleagues.

"It's true the Russian team are quite technical and strong. Maybe the Russians are physically stronger than Asian sides like us but we are well prepared for this game, we're focussed," he told the hordes of Korean press.

"We're well prepared for the match," he pledged.

Unlike the Koreans, who are part of recent World Cup history's fixture and fittings, Russia makes its return to the feast of football for the first time since 2002, when like in 1994 it failed to make it out of the group stages.

Under Fabio Capello, who guided England to the last 16 in South Africa four years ago, Russia coasted through qualifying and in stark contrast to Wednesday's opposition is unbeaten in 10 games.

It holds a psychological advantage going into the game at the Arena Pantanal as it saw off Korea Republic 2-1 in an international in Dubai last November.

Capello defended his decision for the squad to fly into Cuiaba the day before the match, insisting it was a calculated choice by himself and the coaching staff.

"I don't understand all this surprise about the fact we arrived here only today," he said.

"All the decisions on our preparation have been taken by me and the medical staff together.

"We decided to arrive here just one day before the game because we thought that for the players it was better not to change the environment where they were preparing.

"On top of this we only had to fly one hour and 45 minutes, if it was longer we could have decided differently

Capello's crew set off for Brazil missing one vital component of its assault on the World Cup, captain, Roman Shirokov.

The 27-year-old midfielder's failure to recover from a knee ligament injury represented a serious blow to Capello's plans, with Rubin Kazan's Pavel Mogilevets stepping in to replace him.

Veteran defender Vasily Berezutskiy says the 2018 World Cup host is in Brazil to set the record straight.

"We have things to prove in this World Cup," the CSKA Moscow player, who has 78 international caps to his name, said at the weekend.

"It's been 12 years since Russia have participated in the World Cup so our objective is to play more than three games, try to qualify from our group and after that we will see."

Capello's disciplinarian approach failed to win many friends in the England camp, but it's gone down well with the Russians.

"Capello demands discipline and it's a good thing because everyone is working hard, giving 100 per cent in every session," forward Maksim Kanunnikov said.

Fellow striker Alexander Kokorin says he feels pressure to produce on the biggest stage of all.

"I really feel a big responsibility because everybody is talking about me as possibly one of the surprises of this World Cup," the Dynamo Moscow forward said.