Russia are happy to have ended their 12-year wait to appear in a World Cup, but they will not be looking to just make up the numbers in Brazil. There is little expectation at home that Russia could win the competition, but there is optimism that they could qualify from the group stages for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union.
They will certainly want to improve on their last showing in the the finals, in 2002 when, after beating Tunisia, they lost to Japan and Belgium and went out in the group stages.
Russia head to Brazil with a good mix of youth and experience, with coach Fabio Capello introducing new names to go along with the established internationals.
South Korea will have to up their game
South Korea will be playing at their eighth consecutive World Cup finals in June but must improve on a dire qualification campaign to have any chance of escaping a tough group in Brazil.
Unlike fierce rivals Japan, they spluttered through qualifying and it ended with the departure of coach Choi Kang-hee amid concerns the team were heading for embarrassment in South America.
However, a stoic display in a 2-0 defeat by Brazil in October was followed by an impressive 3-1 win over Mali and a superb 2-1 victory over Switzerland.
As good as the result was against the Swiss, who went through their qualifying campaign unbeaten, the manner in which South Korea controlled possession and opened up their opponents at will suggested Hong had found the right formula.
The Koreans are likely to have to beat Algeria and get a positive result against Russia if they are to stand a chance of reaching the knockout stage in Brazil, with top-quality group rivals Belgium highly fancied to go a long way.
Algeria set sights on major improvement
Two successive World Cup appearances would have seemed almost impossible a decade ago but Algeria have made a swift return from the doldrums to again take a prominent role in African soccer. They now have high hopes of getting past the group stage in Brazil, having set themselves the ambitious target of a place in the knockout round.