The Koreans sit proudly at the top of Group B, ahead of the two-time World Cup winners on goal difference, following yesterday's 2-0 victory over Greece.

They will face a much tougher test, however, at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Thursday when they go head-to-head with Diego Maradona's men knowing the winners are destined to head the group and make it through to the last 16, something the Asian side has only achieved once and never on foreign soil.

But while Huh knows his team will be up against it, he insists they will not go into the game having already lost it in their minds.

He said: "Argentina are one of the contenders for the final and they have a lot of very good players. They are a very tough team to play against.

"But I have told my players, we have to remain confident no matter who our opponent is.

"If we do what we have to do, regardless of the result, we can manage to grow as a team.

"Of course, our players have to grow a lot more - there are still rough edges.

"But just because our opponent is a strong team, I don't think they will be defeatist."

South Korea have every reason for optimism, if not of springing a major surprise against Argentina, then of making it into the second phase of the competition ahead of the Greeks and Nigeria, who lost 1-0 to the South Americans at Ellis Park yesterday.

Kashima Antlers central defender Lee Jung-soo set them on their way with a seventh-minute volley, and Manchester United's Park Ji-sung secured the points with a 52nd-minute strike as a late Greece fightback came up well short.

It was a triumph for Huh and his players, who went into the game with onlookers speculating as to how they would cope with physically more robust opponents.

Park said: "We knew Greece were very strong in the air and very good from set-plays, corners and free-kicks and things like that.

"We had worked on how we could stop them in those situations. There were a lot of free-kicks and corners, but we were able to block them, so that was a good strategy.

"When we were attacking, we looked for the empty spaces and we managed to take advantage of those empty spaces and penetrate the defences of the Greek team."

Greece will attempt to repair the damage of a hugely disappointing afternoon on Port Elizabeth when they take on the Nigerians in Bloemfontein, also on Thursday.

They have now played four World Cup final matches and have not claimed a single point or even scored a goal, and that is a situation which will have to change dramatically if the 2004 European champions are to remain in South Africa.

Celtic striker Georgios Samaras said: "We are hoping for the best.

"There are two more games - difficult games, against tough countries -but we will do our best. We will try to do better and get a better result."

German coach Otto Rehhagel admitted his team were second-best, but dismissed a suggestion his team was already preparing to say their goodbyes to the tournament.

He said: "Easy now. We need to analyse the match and see what we have to do for the next match.

"In the next match, we have got to improve a couple of things and be brave and courageous.

"But nothing has been decided yet and we can't talk about the results of the next two matches until they have been played."