Australia look to South Korea for inspiration

OEHRINGEN, Germany, June 25 (Reuters) Australia are drawing inspiration from South Korea's upset victory over Italy in 2002 as they prepare to tackle the Europeans in the World Cup second round in Kaiserslautern tomorrow.

Few people gave the Koreans any chance of beating the Azzurri four years ago, but the co-hosts defied the odds by pulling off a miraculous 2-1 win with a golden goal.

The Socceroos are viewed as similar outsiders but coach Guus Hiddink, who was in charge of Korea in 2002, said there were some similarities.

''It's difficult to compare these two games but from a starting point I think it might be the same in that they (Italy) are 100 percent favourites,'' Hiddink said.

''The strong point about the Australian team is that even when we are down, and unfortunately we've been down in all our games at this tournament, the team always reacts and never gives the impression that it's lost.

''That's the main quality of this team.'' Australian defender Lucas Neil said the Socceroos had already exceeded everyone's expectations by reaching the second round and therefore the pressure was off.

''Nobody expected us to qualify for the World Cup, nobody expected us to get past the group and nobody expects us to beat Italy so we can look forward to going into the game very much as underdogs,'' he said.

''It's very much a David versus Goliath match but we'll give them the best game we possibly can.'' Australia's performance at the tournament had shown they could compete with the world's best, but going out in the second round could undo some of that hard-earned recognition, he added.

''I think we can put Australian soccer...on the map now but it's all for nothing if we lose tomorrow.'' Reuters PDS BD1844