South Korea.

Group F.

WorldCupAcca To Be Confirmed Squad:

Keepers: Kim Seung-gyu,, Kim Jin-hyeon,, Cho Hyun-woo.

Defence: Kim young-gwon, Jang Hyun-soo, Jung Seung-hyun, Yun Yong-sun,  Kwon Kyung-won, Oh Ban-suk, Kim Jin-su, Kim Min-woo, Park Joo-ho, Hong Chul, Go Yo-han, Lee Yong.

Midfield: Ki Sung-yueng, Jung Woo-young, Kwon Chang-hoon, Ju Se-jong, Koo Ja-cheol, Lee Jae-sung, Lee Seung-woo, Moon Seon-min, Lee Chung-yong.

Forwards: Kim Shin-wook, Son Heung-min, , Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Keun-ho.

WorldCupAcca History:

South Korea’s first involvement at a World Cup was in 1954, playing just 2 matches against Hungary & Turkey and conceding 16 goals  It wasn’t until 1986 that they qualified again as they went on to be eliminated in the group stage at 4 consecutive World Cups.

However, as joint-hosts in 2002 South Korea managed to finish 4th, it was a bizarre tournament with both Argentina and the holders, France, being knocked out in the group stages and the 3rd place play-off match ended up being South Korea losing 3-2 to Turkey.

Their qualification campaign for Russia was a little underwhelming, only winning 4 from 10 and finishing 7 points behind Iran and just 2 ahead of Syria.

In their last 5 friendlies, they have only won 2 which were both 1-0 wins against Latvia and Moldova, other than a 2-1 win over an understrength Colombia side in November 2017 you have to go back to March of last year for their last victory.

WorldCupAcca The Squad:

Kim-Seung Gyu will be number 1, he’s a decent shot stopper and has managed to keep 16 clean sheets in his 31 caps so far, in 2014 he went in as 2nd choice but after some poor displays from Jung Sung-ryong he earned a start against Belgium making several saves in the process as the Koreans only suffered a 1-0 loss.

I’ll be honest, I’m struggling with the defence here guys.

Kim Young-gwon has captained the side on a few occasions and will partner Jang Hyun-soo at the back, the pair have nearly 100 caps between them but they along with whoever else plays are generally poor at the back, they conceded a goal a game in qualifying and struggle in particular with concentration and dealing with set pieces.

In midfield and going forward at least Korea have some talent, Koo Ja-cheol of Augsburg isn’t a bad player,, he’s got 19 goals in 65 appearances for his country and actually bagged Augsburgs first ever Bundesliga hattrick a couple of years back against Leverkusen.

Ki Sung-Yeung, Lee Jae-Sung and Kwon Chang-Hoon are all pretty tidy in possession and will allow Korea to retain the ball as well as create 1 or 2 chances and chip in the the odd goal here and there. Obvious Spurs’ Son Heung-Min is the star player in this side and any hope of Korea getting out of this group depend on the 25-year old.

“Sonaldo” only scored once in qualification for Korea but has a reasonable record of 1 in 3 and after a very good season with Tottenham he will be hoping to add to his tally here.

WorldCupAcca The Group:

Whilst Germany should still be winning the group, this should be an interesting group – I wouldn’t expect Germany to blow teams away, they will be coming into the tournament with one of the strongest starting XI’s and serious strength in depth.

Mexico aren’t a bad side, in their last game with Germany in 2017 they lost 4-1 which was perhaps a little flattering, Leon Goretzka bagged a brace in the opening 8 minutes and it was all uphill from there.

After this, they went on to win 5 of their next 7, drawing against European Champions Portugal 2-2 and a 1-0 defeat to Croatia. While they are unlikely to win the group, 2nd place should come down to their final game against Sweden.

Sweden themselves have made the correct decision to not call Zlatan Ibrahimovic back to the squad, as great a player as he was, having made the decision to retire it would have been a bit of a joke to allow him to come back into the fold when the rest of the team secured qualification.

Having secured a playoff spot at the expense of the Netherlands, recent friendly results have been a bit hit and miss – wins over Portugal and Denmark are followed up with defeats to Romania and draws with Estonia, it’s hard to tell which team will turn up on the day and they will be heavily reliant on goals from Berg and Forsberg.

WorldCupAcca Betting Tips:

World Cup Group F Fixtures / Results

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World Cup Group F Table