No one could accuse Italy in 1982 of starting the World Cup with brio nor Spain in 2010 and most eventual winners have suffered some extraordinarily knife-edge moments on their way to victory. None, however, have looked as cooked after 180 minutes of football plus an extra four of added time on Saturday night as Germany. Down to 10 men against Sweden after Jerome Boateng's overdue red card, Toni Kroos hauled them off the canvas and threw a divine roundhouse that unexpectedly won the game and kept their hopes of a defence alive.

That moment of class doesn't obliterate all that preceded it but in truth, while attack, midfield and defence have oscillated between flakiness, sterility and occasional inspiration, enough signs of the latter (including Julian Brandt's woodwork rattling power that needs only a minor recalibration to be effective) give them a puncher's chance. We have had enough evidence over the years - USA 94, France 98, Euro 2000, Euro 2004 - that the old cliche about never writing off the Germans is the most blatant halfwittery. When they look bad, they sometines, but not always, are bad.

We will find out today whether Joachim Löw has been able to instil any coherence into the general play that makes them a proper threat as a team rather than relying so heavily on Kroos. As for South Korea, one would hope that they could channel the level of commitment that Alex Ferguson once called 'obscene' when already relegated West Ham spitefully hobbled Manchester United in the title race.

They had their moments against Mexico, unsettling the defence and should have managed a draw against Sweden. Son Heung-min has the kind of relentless play, and Bundesliga experinece, to know how to cow Germany's brittle defence. But they are going to need spirit, ambition and a clinical ruthlessness that has been all too absent to knock the champions out and give themselves the slimmest hope of going through.