Saudi Arabia cruised through qualifying undefeated, beating South Korea home and away as they made it to their third finals in as many attempts.

The three-time Asian champions are hoping to erase memories of the 8-0 drubbing against Germany four years ago, which sent shockwaves through Arab football.

"First of all we have to overcome the humiliation during the 2002 World Cup," said Hamad al-Montashari, Asia's player of the year.

"Secondly we will be looking forward to getting three points against Tunisia in order to have a chance of qualifying for the second round."

They will be hoping to make the step up with Brazilian Marcos Paqueta, the Saudis' 16th coach in 12 years.

Mindful that his sack-happy employers will be looking for a 17th if Saudi Arabia perform poorly, Paqueta organised a series of friendlies against European teams in the run-up to the finals.

"We wanted to improve our defence and we don't want to make the same mistakes as in 2002," said Paqueta.

Veteran striker Sami Al Jaber, who is attending his fourth World Cup, will start on the bench as he recovers from injury.

But the coach said the team, reportedly on a bonus of 160,000 dollars each to make the next round, was generally fit and well prepared.

Saudi goalkeeper Mohamed Al Deayea is the most capped player of all time, while his Tunisian opposite number Ali Boumnijel will become the World Cup's oldest player at 40 years and 62 days.