Pim Verbeek, who was assistant to coach Guus Hiddink in 2002 and is Dick Advocaat's right-hand man in Germany, said that South Korea had nothing to lose against France following their 2-1 victory over African debutants Togo which put them top of Group G on Tuesday.

France and Switzerland fought to a 0-0 draw in the other group match on Tuesday, piling the pressure on the richly talented French ahead of their encounter with South Korea in Leipzig.

The French boast a Who's Who of football's finest but Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Co have not engineered a World Cup goal in 360 minutes of play and Verbeek said they were desperately seeking some kind of form.

"Four years ago they were struggling and what I've heard is that they're still struggling," said the Dutchman. "But still they have a lot of international experience and they know it's their last chance because if they lose against us (Korea) they will be in deep trouble.

"Also, we want to win. We have two games left and have to win one (to progress). So the sooner the better.

"If we win against France we can relax against Switzerland. If we don't win against France we have to go full (out) against Switzerland.

"So I think everybody understands that we will try to win the game against France and we can win it.

"But we can be a little more relaxed. Because if we lose the game we can still get to the next round if we beat Switzerland. So we are in, we think, a good position but not a safe position."

France have beaten South Korea in their last two matches - a 3-2 win in their final warm-up game for the 2002 World Cup and a 5-0 thrashing at the 2001 Confederations Cup in Korea - but Verbeek said the gap had closed markedly in the last four years.

"Five years ago we lost 5-0, four years ago we lost only 3-2. It's our plan to win this time - the gap has narrowed," he said.

"I have not seen France's first match (against Switzerland) yet. I have all the vidoes and reports ready. We will look at everything during the next few days and we will be prepared."

Verbeek, who has linked up with Advocaat at club and national level since his time with South Korea in 2002, added that he was not surprised that Switzerland had held France to a 0-0 draw.

"From what I've heard from our scouts and what we've seen from Switzerland is that they are a very tough, strong team. So it was not a very big surprise (they held France) to be honest," he said.

Verbeek is in a unique position to compare the 2002 and 2006 South Korea squads and he reckons that the confidence levels are higher this time around.

"The main difference, of course, is that going into the 2002 tournament we had never won a game in the World Cup whereas we came here as semi-finalists from four years ago. So the pressure is much higher," said the 50-year-old.

"We are also playing away from South Korea, though there were so many Korean fans at the first match in Frankfurt that it felt like it was at home. But it will be different against France and Switzerland. But on the other hand we have the confidence to go after it."