Korea's chances of advancing to the Round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa brightened Saturday as it beat Greece 2-0 in the Group B opener.

Statistics are on Korea's side. Since the 1998 World Cup in France, most teams that won their openers qualified for the Round of 16, with the probability of advancing was 86.1 percent or 31 out of 36 countries.

A mixture of two different types of matches -- league and tournament -- was adopted for the World Cup in 1998. Under the rule, teams that come first and second in each of the eight groups qualify for the Round of 16. From Round of 16 onward, teams then knock each other out.

In the 1998 World Cup, all 11 countries that won their openers qualified for the Round of 16, and France, Brazil and Croatia then ended up coming first, second, and third overall.

Of 12 countries that won their openers in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, nine except Argentina, Russia, and Costa Rica qualified for the Round of 16. Of the nine, Brazil won the trophy, Germany came second, and Korea finished fourth.

Of the 13 national teams that won their openers in the Germany in 2006, 11 except Korea and the Czech Republic advanced into the Round of 16, and Italy, France, Germany, and Portugal came first through fourth.

Korea scored three qualifying points by winning its opener Saturday. If it scores two more points by tying with Argentina and Nigeria, it advances to the next round with five points. In the last three World Cups, no nation that won five or more points in the Round of 32 was disqualified.

If Korea ends up with one tie and one loss in the remaining two matches, it will have to calculate the points based on the number of goals it has scored to decide who advances into the next round. If Korea suffers two losses, it will be difficult to move on. Since 1998, only one country, Chile, has qualified for the Round of 16 with just three qualifying points.