South Korea 2014 World Cup Away ShirtWhen the 2014 FIFA World Cup commences in Brazil this summer, it will officially be the 20th time that such an event has taken place. Out of those 20 tournaments, the red, blue, and white colors of the South Korea soccer jersey have appeared eight times before, with the ninth to come this summer. And the South Korea national football team, which is still riding high off its unexpectedly strong finishes in the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, is hoping that nine will prove to be a lucky number.

Current FIFA world rankings have the South Korea team slotted at 55, meaning that no one really expects the team to make much of an impression in Brazil come this summer. That fact hasn't daunted fans of the Asian team, however, who are flocking to the Soccer Box online store to purchase items like the South Korea 2014 FIFA World Cup away jersey. The away shirt, a white jersey with bands of color on each sleeve one red and one blue was manufactured by Nike and boasts South Korea's distinctive tiger crest on the breast.

Group Stage Challenges

If the South Korea soccer jersey is going to make much of an impression on global football viewers this summer, then the team that wears it will have to battle its way out of the group stage. Luckily for fans of the team, South Korea's draw is likely one of the easier ones currently on the docket for the first stage of the World Cup.

In fact, none of the football teams in South Korea's group Group H, to be exact are currently ranked in the top 10 by FIFA. The biggest challenge South Korea will face in this stage is likely Belgium, a team which showed unexpected strength in the qualification stages and earned a ranking of 12 from FIFA as a result. However, both of the other teams in Group H Russia and Algeria are seeded above South Korea as well, meaning that the team will have its work cut out for it.

Fans hoping to cheer their South Korea team on in the group stage will want to have both a home kit and a South Korea 2014 FIFA World Cup away jersey. The team has drawn the home field position for its matches against Algeria and Belgium, while the game against Russia will be played with the away jersey.

Previous Triumphs 

While it's true that South Korea is the bottom-ranked team in its group this year, no one should be writing the team out of contention. After all, South Korea has a recent history of outperforming the expectations of the global community.

In 2002, South Korea didn't just advance past the group stage; the team won its group outright. That year brought an extra amount of appreciative fans wearing the South Korea soccer jersey in the stands, since the hosting duties were split between Japan and South Korea. Even though they were the home team though, no one expected South Korea to do much damage, largely because the team had never won a single game in the World Cup.

That all changed in the group stage, of course, with South Korea beating Portugal and Poland, and drawing with the United States. Later rounds showed that the group stage victory wasn't just a fluke, either, with the South Korean team upsetting European heavyweights like Italy and Spain before being defeated in the semifinals by Germany.

South Korea ended up coming in fourth place in the 2002 World Cup, and while the 2006 tournament saw the team eliminated after the group stage, it fought back in 2010 to reach the round of 16. This year, fans are hoping in part for a repeat of 2002 even if no serious football experts are predicting the South Korea 2014 FIFA World Cup away jersey to be seen in the tournament beyond the group stage.

Can this promising South Korean football team bring newfound world football glory to Asia? We will find out next month, but for now, you should focus on making sure you have your South Korea soccer jersey for when the World Cup begins next month!