Former Socceroos great Mark Bosnich believes South Korea can avoid another toffee treatment from its fans and break the country's 55-year Asian Cup drought.
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The star-studded South Korean team – featuring Bayer Leverkusen dynamo Son Heung-min and Swansea star Ki Sung-yueng – kicks off its tournament against Oman at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides trained behind closed doors in the national capital on Thursday as they ramped up preparations for their opening game of the tournament.
South Korea is the third highest-ranked Asian country behind Iran and Japan.
It will pose the greatest threat to the Socceroos in group A and is rightly considered one of the favourites to take out the title.
There will be plenty of pressure on South Korea to perform after players were pelted with toffees when they returned to Seoul after last year's disappointing World Cup, picking up just a single point.
Bosnich believes toffees – a traditional South Korean insult – won't be needed if the team can live up to its potential.
"They're the real deal, they can definitely win it," he said.
"They didn't perform how they would've wanted to at the World Cup, but at this competition they will know they have a lot to prove.
"Their midfield is their engine room in more ways than one.
"Their creativity comes from there, the control of the game comes from there and their best players are from there, so that's going to be huge.
"It'll be interesting to see when they play Australia especially because we like to keep possession and so will they."
South Korea will need to shake off the demons of not having won the Asian Cup since 1960, despite regularly representing the region at the World Cup.
"I believe that will work in their favour," Bosnich said.
"They had a disappointing World Cup, but they weren't the only team from Asia to do that.
"The time is right for them, they're primed and they've got some very good players."
Only five players in the South Korean squad play their club football in their domestic league, with the rest either in Europe, Asia or the Middle East.
Bosnich watched South Korea train in Sydney last week and was impressed with the squad's condition.
"They look in great physical shape," Bosnich said.
"They looked like machines in terms of their fitness and their physiques.
"That's really going to help them in the hot conditions."
