Sweden and South Korea will both be looking to capitalise on a shock defeat for Group F favourites Germany when they get their World Cup campaigns underway in Nizhny Novgorod on Monday.
Both teams will hope to make the most of an early unexpected twist from a group neither were amongst the favourites to qualify from, but by the same token defeat in their opener could leave them with a mountain to climb.
Sweden
Preview: Sweden vs. South Korea - prediction, team news, lineups
For Sweden, Monday's contest will be a match 12 years in the making. Despite boasting one of the best players of the generation in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Scandanavians have not graced the world stage since 2006.
Ibrahimovic has now retired, but even without him the team has managed to return to the big time, and facing three former World Cup finalists on the road to Russia will surely only boost their belief that they can enjoy a memorable campaign.
South Korea
South Korea are fast becoming veterans of the World Cup scene, and when they line up for Monday's match against Sweden it will be the ninth successive time that they have appeared at the tournament.
Despite that experience, not much is expected of the Asian outfit in Group F; they are placed 57th in the latest FIFA rankings, 33 places before Sweden and further still behind Mexico and the top-ranked Germany.
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